Life at Duel Academy
by aonalion
Summary: Sam Marshall enrols at Duel Academy the same year as Jaden Yuki. This is her story of the normal life at DA - or at least as normal as things get around there. OC x OC
1. Welcome to Duel Academy

**PLEASE READ FIRST! **

This is a normal story about a normal girl enrolling at Duel Academy the same year as Jaden Yuki. No, she does not fall in love with him/Chazz/Atticus/Zane etc. etc... She's just a normal girl trying to survive school. Chances of Mary Sue-ness are slim.

Also, I started writing this before I started watching the Japanese episodes, so all the names are the english ones ;)

Enjoy! :)

**EDIT:** Okay, I just wanted to say that I will finish it, even if it'll take me a couple of months ;)

* * *

Sam pressed her nose flat against the window in an attempt to see the island further ahead. The noise from the chopper's propellers made it impossible to speak with the others on board, but everyone gathered at the windows to see what lay ahead.

She was slender with short, red hair and brown eyes. She didn't exactly have freckles, it was more like her entire face was one big freckle with small patches of skin.

"Attention new Duel Academy students, if you look outside your windows you'll see your new home away from home. Now now, I know you're excited but don't shove. Quite a sight, eh? Now then, fasten your seat belts and set your seats back to an upright position. We're going in to land. Next stop; Academy Island!"

Sam smiled, buckled up and leaned back into the chair before she closed her eyes.

It was like a dream come true, to be able to study at Duel Academy for three whole years! Nothing more than Duel Monsters all day…

She could still remember the entrance exam which had taken place nothing more than a week ago. She had to duel a senior from Obelisk Blue named Loah Jackson. He was a skilled duellist, but he had been kind to her. If she had duel that Crowler she wouldn't have passed the test… Sam had heard that a guy actually had to duel the mentor from Obelisk Blue, but by then she was already done with her exam and she had gone home. She had been one of the first to do the exam and therefore she was done early in the morning.

The chopper landed with a soft bump and effectively startled Sam from all her thoughts. Her fellow students all pushed and shoved each other to get out from the chopper and Sam was one of the last to actually get out.

The sun blinded her for a moment, and when she could see again she couldn't help but gasp. A broad stone path went from the helicopter pad to the huge gates of Duel Academy. Statues of Duel Monsters stood in a straight line on each side of the path and the school building itself was painted in the colors of the dorms; red, yellow and blue.

The other students whispered and mumbled expectantly as they walked towards the school, but Sam admired the surroundings in silence.

A teacher with long blond hair and dark eyes led them through the gigantic gates, through a couple of corridors and up to three doors. He stopped just outside of them and waited until the students had gone silent.

"Okay", the teacher said, "I'm Professor Darius Rowe and when I call your name from this list I want you to wait outside the room I show you." he unfolded a long list full of names and started.

Sam watched uninterested as the boys and girls were called from the list and joined the groups outside the three doors, but she couldn't help but notice that people seemed to stir when a brown-haired boy named Jaden Yuki was called. He was obviously famous, but Sam had never seen him before.

"… Marshall, Sam."

Sam felt a bolt of nervousness run through her body but she quickly calmed down.

Professor Darius pointed at the group furthest to the left and Sam slowly walked over there. The guy named Jaden was in the same group. She looked at him when he talked to a small bluenette with glasses but she didn't think he looked special in any way.

"So", the Professor said when he had called all the names from the list. "Now you may enter your respective rooms."

Sam was closest to the door and pushed down the handle. The door slid open and revealed a small room filled with coat hangers and red Duel Academy jackets. The students rushed into the room.

Three Ra Yellow girls greeted them welcome and helped them find the right size for their new jackets. Sam looked around the room and realized something; _there were nothing but boys in there._ She stood in a corner and waited until one of the girls from Ra Yellow came over to her.

"Hello, my name is Clara. Would you like some help finding a jacket?"

Sam blushed slightly and looked down at the floor. "No thanks, it's okay. I can find one myself."

"Oh, okay. Let me know if you need help!"

Clara walked away to help someone else and left Sam alone. She deliberately picked a jacket which was too big and quickly changed from her hoodie too her new school uniform.

_They think I'm a boy. They seriously think I'm a boy. What if that's the only reason I'm even in here… there's girls in Ra and Obelisk, but in Slifer Red? I've never heard of that…_

Sam couldn't stop thinking about the possibility that she only was able to enter the school because they thought she was a boy.

The Ra Yellow girls lead them through a door and into an enormous classroom. On one wall there was a huge TV screen and under it a podium. On the opposite side there were benches and chairs.

Obelisk Blue and Ra Yellow was already in there and they looked slightly irritated over the fact that they had to wait for the Slifer slackers.

The TV screen flickered and a picture of a bald, powerful man appeared on the screen. He was wearing a red jacket and looked out over the new students with a small smile on his lips.

"Good morning and welcome, my students. I Chancellor Sheppard, the headmaster here, and you are the best and greatest young duellists in the world. Now please, get yourself settled in at your assigned dorms. I think you'll find them quite comfortable, depending upon how you ranked of course." he laughed heartily. "Your classes start tomorrow, until that time I want you to get to know your surroundings and your classmates."

Sam looked around and discovered horrified that the boy named Jaden Yuki was standing there, sleeping! She was just about to wake him up when his little blue haired friend poked him in his side. Jaden's head jerked up and he looked around, confused.

Professor Rowe was giving out some papers, but he stopped by Sam's side and leaned forward to whisper: "Chancellor Sheppard and I wish to speak to you in his office."

Sam nodded and took a bundle of papers from him. It was one map over the island, one map in a larger scale over the school area and a few papers with names and pictures over their classmates and teachers.

The rest of the students went to explore the school campus, but Sam stayed behind and followed Rowe as he left the room. She followed him in silence.

After a while he stopped just outside a door which he opened and motioned her to walk in. Sam went in and looked around. It was a big room, but there wasn't much in there; a few bookshelves and plants, a desk and a chair. The wall furthest away from the door was nothing but a giant window with a view over the school campus.

Chancellor Sheppard came over to Sam and took her hand. "Miss Marshall, I'm Chancellor Sheppard."

_So they know I'm a girl_, Sam thought and didn't know if she should be relieved or worried.

"It's highly unusual that girls enrol Duel Academy." Professor Rowe said seriously. "The ones who do enter are usually Ra Yellow or Obelisk Blue students, in other words; only very gifted or rich young women enrol here."

"You are an exception." Chancellor Sheppard continued. "Your family isn't rich enough to put you in Obelisk, and you're not good enough to be in Ra." Sam pouted a little. "But we believe you have potential to become something big, and we would like some change around here." He laughed loudly.

"We're trying to enrol more girls to Duel Academy, and we would like to start small." Rowe said and actually smiled a little. "Due to your situation you will get a room for yourself, but it's a little smaller than the other's. You'll have room number three." he said and gave Sam a small key.

"Thank you." Sam said and smiled. Maybe things would turn out alright here at Duel Academy.

The Professor and the Chancellor smiled towards her and motioned her to leave.

Sam walked out of the office after thanking them again and then looked at the keys and papers she'd gotten. It took her a while to find her current position on the map, but then she started walking the very long way to her dorm.

She walked out from the main building through the front doors and walked down the wide path. There weren't any students around, they had all gone to their respective dorms to unpack their baggage, which had been sent straight there.

After a couple of minutes she came to the Slifer Red dorm. It was pretty big in her opinion, but Sam knew that it was much smaller than both the Ra and Obelisk dorm. A few Slifer Red students was sitting on the grass just outside the building, talking and comparing their cards.

You could hear the waves crashing against the cliffs far below them and not too far away there was a bridge which led to a smaller island.

A few of the guys sitting on the ground greeted Sam when she walked by and she smiled towards them. She walked up the stairs to the second floor and went to room number three.

Sam opened the door and turned on the lights in the small room. There was a window with closed curtains, a bed, a desk and a chair, and a door which led to a small bathroom. Sam's luggage was lying on the bed along with a "Welcome to Duel Academy" letter with even more information about the school.

Suddenly, she heard a surprised shout from the other side of the wall, and then voices. Sam put her ear against the wall to be able to hear.

"… sorry. My name's Jaden Yuki." one voice said cheerfully.

"And I'm Syrus. We're your new roommates." another voice said, this one more nervous.

"You're new alright, so let me tell you how things work around here." a dark, unpleasant voice said. "You've got three different kinds of students here; Obelisk Blue students, Ra Yellow students and Slifer Red students. Now, the Blue are the highest rank students; some kids are Blue because of their grades, others due to their connections. The Yellow are second highest, mostly younger students with lots of potential. Then, there's us. The Red wonders."

"'The wonders'. That's a cool name." said the voice which Sam presumed belonged to Syrus, Jaden's little blue haired friend.

"As in 'I _wonder _how flunkies like us ever got this far', maybe. Yeah sorry, but we're bottom of the barrel here."

There were a few gasps and Sam couldn't help but smile. She took a step back from the wall and started to unpack her stuff.

When she was done she walked out and stood on the deck that went outside her room and connected it with the others.

Jaden and Syrus suddenly came running out from their room. A fat, obviously angry boy followed them. He was soaking wet and shouted to Jaden and Syrus to come back since he didn't want to run after them.

He turned around to walk back in and then saw Sam for the first time.

"What are you looking at?" he said, but didn't wait for an answer and walked in again.

Sam felt offended and suddenly didn't feel like staying outside in the sun with the other Slifer students. She spent the rest of the day in her room and when it was time for the welcome dinner she simply told their mentor, Professor Banner, that she wasn't feeling well and brought her dinner up to her room.

The truth was that she did have a head ache, and she was very tired. Everything had happened so fast and she'd gotten so many new impressions in one day… she just wanted to go to sleep, and after returning the tray to the kitchen and brushing her teeth, she did so.


	2. New friends

**A/N:** Chapter two, "New friends", aka "The plot thinnens".

Plot? What plot?

* * *

When Sam woke up the following day she had no idea where she was. Then suddenly, it all came back to her; Duel Academy, Chancellor Sheppard, Professor Rowe and Banner, the rude boy…

She turned around in her bed and stared at the wall. She didn't feel like going up.

Suddenly, someone knocked at her door and Sam hastily got out of bed.

"J-just a moment!" she yelled and dressed herself in her school uniform.

Outside her room was Syrus, and behind him stood Jaden.

"Hi." Syrus said shyly. "I'm Syrus and this is Jaden. You missed breakfast so we thought we'd bring you some." He paused, looked at Jaden and then said: "But Jaden wanted _us_ to eat it instead."

Jaden smiled and sweat dropped.

"Haha, thanks!" Sam said and took the tray Syrus was holding. "My name is Sam."

"Nice to meet you. See you around!" Syrus smiled and started to walk away.

"Sy! Come on, let's go check out the school campus!" Jaden shouted happily and ran ahead.

"Err, I don't think that's such a good idea." Syrus said nervously, but still followed the bouncing brunette.

Sam smiled and closed the door to eat her breakfast. When she was done she went down to the kitchen and washed her plate and glass.

When she walked out from the dining-room, which was connected to the kitchen, the sun was already high on the sky and she estimated that it was at least eleven o' clock. It was three hours until lunch and there was nothing to do except exploring the area.

Sam vaguely wished Jaden and Syrus could've stayed, so she would have someone to walk with. She pulled out the maps from her pocket and studied them for a minute before she shrugged and decided to go wherever she felt like.

She walked to the main building and wandered aimlessly around the corridors for a good while. All the Slifer students greeted her, but the Ra students mostly ignored her. The Obelisk Blue was the worst, some of them called her Slifer-slacker when she walked by, even though she hadn't actually done anything to offend them. Apparently just being alive counted as an insult when you were a Slifer.

When Sam eventually got tired of being called slacker she walked out and down to the ocean instead. She walked out on the pier and sat down near the lighthouse. She sat there for a good while and listened to the waves and seagulls… She closed her eyes and smiled to herself.

"Oh there you are." a voice suddenly said.

Sam jerked her head up and saw a lonely Obelisk Blue student. He was wearing the white and pale blue version of the uniform and had long, black hair and bright green eyes. It was Loah Jackson, the guy Sam had duelled in her entrance exam.

"May I sit down?" he asked politely.

"O-of course." Sam said embarrassed.

"I just wanted to check up on you." he said and sat down. "Are your classmates nice towards you?"

"Yes, but…"

"Is your room okay?"

"Well, yes it's okay, but…"

"Is the food good?"

"Yes, but you…"

"What's wrong?" Loah wondered, surprised.

"Obelisk Blues don't usually hang out with Slifer Reds, do they?" Sam asked sincerely.

Loah was quiet for a long time, and the he said: "That's true… But I know you're different. I know… that you're a girl."

"I haven't told anyone! How could you possibly know?" Sam said angrily. "Did the teachers tell you?"

"No! No, they didn't tell me. I understood that when we duelled during the entrance exam." he smiled and stared at something far away. "I don't know how I knew, but I did."

_Oh my God. What if someone else knows? The girls in Ra and Obelisk are so talented, but Slifer sucks. What if all the guys attacked me at once and really tried to make me lose because I'm a girl. Or worse, what if they treat me differently and don't come at me with all they've got because I'm a Slifer girl._

"Relax." Loah said softly. Sam realized she'd tensed up and started to breathe faster. "I'm pretty sure nobody else knows. Because you don't want anyone else to know, right?"

"No." Sam almost whispered. "What if they treat me differently because I'm a girl?"

"There's other girls at Duel Academy?"

"But I'm a Slifer!" Sam yelled and stood up. "Slifer sucks! Slifer slacker! Slifer slime!"

"Calm down!" Loah also stood up and tried to grab Sam's hands to make her calm down, but she backed away from him and stared at him in disbelief.

"That's what you did!" she said. "You were extra nice towards me during the entrance exam because you knew I was a girl!"

Loah's eyes widened and he looked at her in despair.

"N-no…"

"How could you?" Sam shouted with tears in her eyes, turned around and ran away.

She could hear Loah call her name far behind her, but she ignored him.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she ran towards her dorm. A few students were out, walking around the campus or sitting in the shadows under the trees, and they all looked startled at Sam when she ran by.

When she finally came to her room she closed and locked the door before she threw herself on the bed and cried until she didn't have any more tears left. She just laid there and stared at the ceiling.

_Ha! And here I was worrying about the possibility that people would treat me differently because I'm a girl, and then someone had already done that!_

There was a sudden knock at the door.

"Sam? It's Professor Banner." Sam moaned and hid her head under a pillow. "What happened? Was someone mean towards you?"

Sam almost laughed out loud. _Mean_. What was she, five years old? She swallowed the laugh and tried the silent treatment instead. Banner asked her a couple of more times and tried to make her answer, but after a while he gave up and she could hear him walking away.

After yet another while Jaden and Syrus showed up instead, along with the rude boy from yesterday. He started of with saying: "Sam…? My name is Chumley. Sorry I was mad yesterday, I was hungry."

Again Sam had to bite her pillow to avoid laughing.

"Are you okay?" Jaden asked. "We understand if you don't want to speak to Banner, but what about us?"

Sam felt that she couldn't ignore them anymore. They were just being nice towards her even though they didn't really know each other.

"I'm okay." Sam said and tried to keep her voice steady. "I'm just not feeling well. I think I'm coming down with something."

"Okay. Would you like some company?" Syrus said, noticeably relieved.

"Yeah…" Sam whispered quietly.

"Sam?" Syrus wondered from the other side of the door after a while.

Sam cursed herself for being such an idiot, got up from her bed walked up to the door and unlocked it.

The guys outside looked surprised when the door suddenly opened.

"Welcome in." Sam said with a small smile and hoped that they wouldn't notice that she'd been crying.

"Nice place you've got here." Jaden said and sat down on her bed. "Why did you get a room all by yourself?"

"Err, I think there was something wrong when they gave us our rooms… there was one student too much, so I had to take this room. It was a cleaning closet before." Sam lied and sat down on the edge of her desk.

"Who's that?" Syrus wondered and pointed at an old photo of Sam and her father. On the picture, Sam had long, a little curly hair and a pink dress.

"Oh, that's my twin sister and my father." Sam said, embarrassed.

"She's cute!" Syrus blurted out before he could stop himself.

Sam blushed and then realized how she should've reacted.

"Well, I'm _not_ letting _you_ date her." she smirked.

The three guys looked surprised, but then Jaden and Chumley started laughing while Syrus slowly became red as a tomato. Syrus started stutter out an apology while Jaden cheerfully started telling Sam about all of Syrus' card crushes.

The guys stayed until dinner − because apparently Sam had missed lunch − and then they went to eat together.

Sam was happy that she'd gotten some real friends and even though she couldn't forget the incident with Loah earlier, when she went to bed that night she was still happy.

* * *

**A/N:** lol yah, Jaden and the others appear in this chapter and become friends with Sam - sorta. You didn't think I would leave them out completely, did ya? ;)

Also, Sam is pretty Mary Sue in this chapter, sorry! It becomes better later on, or at least I think so T_T


	3. Card Trader

**A/N:** Even this story's filler has filler! lol the actual plot doesn't start until like the ninth chapter or sumpthin'. I've never even thought about that before x'D

* * *

The alarm clock brutally woke Sam up on her third morning at Duel Academy. She sat straight up and drowsily looked around.

_I don't remember setting the alarm..._ Sam thought. _It must be one of those pre-programmed ones, it probably only wakes you up on school days._

She got up, took a shower and dressed herself before she went down to the dining-room to eat breakfast. Jaden, Chumley and Syrus weren't there, so Sam decided she'd just sit down wherever there was room.

At one table there were only two guys; one of them had dark skin and black dreadlocks while the other had messy, blonde hair and grey eyes.

"Can I sit here?" Sam wondered.

"Yeah, sure." the guy with dreads said. "You're Sam, right? My name is Duncan, and this is Zach."

"Nice to meet you." Sam smiled and sat down. "Are you guys nervous about the classes starting?"

"Nope", Zach said and leaned back, "The whole first year is nothing but the basics of Duel Monsters, you don't really need to know anything to pass the tests."

"For real?" Sam said in honest surprise.

"Yeah, where have you been, under a rock or something?" Duncan smirked. "Didn't you read the welcoming letter we got yesterday?"

"Well, I was a little busy." Sam said, embarrassed.

They ate under an awkward silence for a while.

"Are you done?" Duncan asked, and Sam nodded. "Well, come on then. We don't want to be late for our first class, do we?"

They smiled towards each other and left their trays in the kitchen before they walked to the main building.

Their first class was held by Professor Rowe, and after a short briefing about the school regulations they started with the actually schoolwork. They learnt about the different phases in a turn and how you can manipulate them for your own gain.

The first class went on for a long time, until it was time for lunch. To eat lunch they had to walk all the way back to their dorms, but it didn't really matter now when the weather was so good.

"… and that guy, Jaden Yuki? He slept the entire class!" Zach laughed at his own comment, but Sam and Duncan gave him an unappreciative look. "And that little midget he's hanging out with tried to wake him up the entire time, but failed! Haha!"

"Oh come on, Zach." Sam said. "I think Jaden and Syrus are much better than people think."

"Yeah, stop it." Duncan agreed.

"You guys are so boring." Zach said and looked away. He stopped so suddenly Duncan walked right into him. "Isn't that Banner's cat?" he pointed at a fat cat which obviously was stuck high up in a tree.

"Come on!" Sam said and started running towards the tree and the cat, which meowed loudly. She quickly climbed the tree while Zach and Duncan stood below and stared.

"You're really good at climbing!" Duncan said, impressed, while Sam got a hold of the cat. It immediately put its claws deep into her jacket and gave up a terrified meow.

"I did that a lot when I was younger." Sam replied and jumped from the branch she was standing on to the ground.

With the cat safe in her arms she, Duncan and Zach walked towards the Slifer Red dorm. The moment they arrived, Banner ran out from the dining-room with a worried expression on his face. Then he saw his cat and smiled in relief.

"Pharaoh!" he said happily and took the cat from Sam. "I've been looking all over for you! Where was he?" he then wondered, faced to them.

"He was stuck in a tree." Duncan answered.

"Yeah, but Sam climbed up and took him down."

"Really?" Banner said interested, and turned to Sam. "Thank you very much, Sam. You can have this as a reward." He looked through his briefcase and took out a very old Duel Monsters card.

He gave it to Sam, who looked at it and widened her eyes in surprise.

"This is the spell card 'Card Trader'! It's very rare!"

"Yes, but you deserve it. It has helped me in many duels."

He smiled and walked away with Pharaoh in a tight grip.

Sam, Duncan and Zach went in to eat lunch and then continued their first day in school. After lunch they had Duel Monsters history, and later art class. They didn't end until four o' clock, and then they went back to their dorm.

Sam reconstructed her deck using 'Card Trader'. The guys were jealous and Sam had to promise that if Pharaoh ever was in need again, she'd let _them_ help him.


	4. I can't have PE!

**A/N:** Filler...! Does this story even have a plot? Review and stay in my heart forever! (It would be pretty nice to know if anyone even bothers to read this, 'cause otherwise I can just abandon this project entirely)

* * *

The next day they didn't start class until ten, so they could sleep a little longer if they wanted to.

Sam, however, didn't. She woke up around eight and dressed herself in casual (but very loose) clothing before she went down to the dining-room. Duncan, Syrus and a boy with black hair and glasses were already there, happily blabbering on about card games.

"Oh, hi." Duncan said as Sam sat down at their table. "You couldn't sleep late either?"

"No. I can never sleep as a normal teenager." Sam grinned. "I'm Sam, by the way." she said to the black-haired guy.

"My name is Kurou." he said, but didn't even smile. After saying his name, he immediately turned towards Duncan and started talking to him again.

Sam frowned a little. _What the heck is his problem?_

"… better today?"

"Huh?" Sam said when she suddenly realized someone was talking to her.

"I said: are you feeling better today?" Syrus said with a little smile.

"Oh yes, much better. Thank you." she looked around a little. "Have you eaten yet?"

"I think Duncan and Kurou already ate, but I haven't, wanna to go get something?"

Sam replied with a smile and they both went to the kitchen to get some breakfast. When they came back, Kurou was gone and Duncan stared dreamily at his cup of tea.

"You know him?" Sam asked.

"Kurou? Yeah, we went to middle school together and we've been neighbours for forever." Sam frowned again, which Duncan noticed. "Oh I know, he can be a little rude sometimes, but he's really a good guy." he paused, and then continued. "He's got a complicated situation at home, go easy on him."

"Okay." Sam said and felt just a little bad for Kurou.

They ate under an awkward silence for a while, and then Sam suddenly jumped. Her PDA had started ringing and vibrating in her pocket. She couldn't help but blush a little as she almost dropped it trying to get it out from her pocket.

Syrus and Duncan watched her curiously.

"Who's calling?" Syrus wanted to know.

"Oh it's…" Sam trailed off and her eyes darkened. "Does everyone have everyone else's phone number?"

"Yeah, I think so. Why?"

Sam didn't answer, but stood up and walked out in the kitchen where the guys couldn't hear her, before answering her phone.

"Hey." a dark voice said.

"… My name isn't 'hey'."

"Alright then, Sam? Miss Marshall? How mad are you?"

"… I don't know. How sorry are you?"

"Very. I honestly can't believe I did something like that." Loah said and sounded relieved over the fact that Sam didn't just hang up on him. "It's practically cheating! I only did it because… b-because there was something about you… that made me want to protect you."

Sam couldn't help it; a small blush appeared on her cheeks when she heard the last part, but she stayed quiet.

"I just wanted to apologize to you in person. Can we meet somewhere? I know your class doesn't start until ten."

"How do you know that?" Sam asked, since she couldn't think of another reply.

"It's the senior's job to help the teachers put together the schedules for the new semesters. I helped." Loah answered in a monotone voice. "Now, will you meet me?"

Sam thought quietly about it for such a long time Loah finally said:

"… Sam?"

"Yes yes, I'm still here. Just thinking." she said, annoyed. "Okay, fine. We can meet −" she heard Loah inhale and quickly continued before he got a chance to say anything. "− but not until after school, somewhere where people can't see us. I don't want anyone to ask questions. Obelisks don't usually hang out with Slifer slackers, right?"

"… I guess not."

"Good." Sam said and tried − but failed − to stay unaffected by the hurt in Loah's voice. "We can meet at the eastern side of the campus, behind the gym, at five o' clock."

And then she hung up on him, without waiting for a response.

"So who was it?" Duncan asked when she came back.

"Oh, just Professor Banner who wanted to say thanks again." Sam lied. "What's our first class?"

"I think it's P.E. You can check on your PDA, we have the schedule programmed."

Sam's eyes widened. _P.E. _She couldn't have P.E.! How were she supposed to change into her gym outfit and take a shower in a locker room filled with _boys?_ Different scenarios flew through her head so quickly she hardly had any time to think about them separately. _I could change in the girls' room. Nooo, what am I thinking? Then everyone would know I'm a girl!… I could cut class! But if I did, my grades would −_

"Hey, Sam. Are you okay?" Duncan asked worriedly, effectively startling Sam from all thoughts. "You look kinda pale."

"Yeah, are you sure you're feeling better?"

"Y-yeah, I just…" she trailed off. What were she supposed to tell them?

Luckily, Zach decided to come running into the dining room at that precise moment, he was slightly blushing and his hair and clothes were wet.

"Zach? What happened to you?" Duncan asked as they all stood up. "I thought you were asleep!"

"Man", Zach said and sat down by the table, "those Obelisk Blue girls are so stuck up! Can you believe they have a fence around their dorm?"

"You tried to sneak into their dorm, didn't you?" Duncan said exasperated and Sam and Syrus sweat dropped.

"Yeaaah, but I was just trying to see to Alexis Rhodes! You have _seen_ her, haven't you?" Zach said and raised an eyebrow.

"Jay and I met her yesterday and talked a bit to her…" Syrus said evasively and looked away. "… but I don't think she's stuck up?"

"Exactly! She's the exception confirming the rule!"

"Maybe she just doesn't like the idea of you sneaking around her dorm?" Syrus said and received an angry look from Zach. He laughed nervously.

"You should go change, otherwise you'll catch a cold." Duncan said but didn't seem to really care.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go change into my school uniform as well." Sam said and started walking towards the door.

"Why? We have P.E. as our first class; we can just change into our gym clothes here."

"Uh, y-yeah." Sam said and hid her face from the others. "Well, I'm going to change in either case."

She hurried out from the dining-room before the guys could say anything else. She practically ran up the stairs to her room and locked the door behind her once she got in.

After panicking for a couple of minutes she decided to put on her school uniform. After thinking about it for another couple of minutes, Sam took out her PDA and looked through the list of teachers. Next to the title "Nurse/Health Class Instructor" stood the name Fonda Fontaine.

Sam made up her mind and called her.

The image flickered and then a picture of a woman appeared. She had red hair and a kind face, but for the moment she looked surprised.

"Oh, miss Marshall. I was just about to call you myself." she said and then smiled. "I know about your condition, and I wanted to give you some options about my classes. Either you could skip the class and only do the theoretical part, or you can use the teachers' locker room to change. It's entirely up to you."

Sam's eyes widened in relief as she heard this. "Thank you." she whispered.

Professor Fonda smiled, waited a moment, and then said; "I could call back, if you need some time to −"

"No. I-I mean, I'd like to do the theoretical part only."

"Then it's settled. You can come to my classes as usual and I'll give you some assignments you can work on while the others exercise." Fonda said. "What should we tell your classmates? Surely they will wonder why you're not part of the class?"

"… I'll just tell them I have a chronic disease and don't like talking about it." Sam replied.

"Are you sure you're okay with lying to them? I mean, they are your friends after all."

"I already kinda do, don't I?" Sam grinned uneasily.

She almost jumped out of her skin when someone suddenly knocked at her door.

"Thank you so much Professor Fonda, but I have to go." Sam almost whispered and didn't wait for the professor to reply before hanging up on her.

"Sam! Are you there?" Duncan said from the other side of the door. Sam ran up to her door, unlocked and opened it. Outside were Duncan and Zach − the later wearing new, dry clothes.

"I thought you were going to change?" Zach wondered when he saw her.

"Uh yeah, about that… I'm not going to have P.E." Sam said nervously. "I-I have a chronic disease which makes it hard for me to exercise."

Duncan and Zach's eyes widened and they both spoke at the same time. "Why haven't you told us before?"

Sam couldn't help but laugh a little. "I guess I just didn't want to worry you guys. And I… I honestly don't like to talk about it."

"We understand." Duncan said softly. "But are you ready to go to school?"

"Yeah." Sam nodded and they all walked to school together.

* * *

**A/N:** Kurou is a Japanese name traditionally given to the ninth son! *giggle*


	5. Meeting Loah

**A/N**: I don't have any oneshot slashfics to upload yet so I'm updating this story instead!

... Still takin' suggestions! Tell me what your fav GX pairing is and maybe I'll write about it!

* * *

They day progressed as normal, after Health Class they had lunch and after that Field Training where they paired up and duelled against each other. Sam won over Zach, which made him grumpy for the rest of the day.

Sam and Duncan talked to Alexis Rhodes for a while during the Field Training and found out that Zach had in fact tried to get in to the Obelisk Blue dorm. Alexis and her friends had caught him trying to climb over the fence and thrown a couple of buckets of water at him. Sam couldn't help but laugh when she heard it, but Duncan didn't look too happy.

After the school ended they all went back to the Slifer Red dorm to deal with their homework. They hadn't gotten any today, but yesterday they'd found out they were going to have a test on Monster Summons in a week.

Sam, Zach, Duncan, Kurou and a couple of other guys all sat in Duncan and Zach's room, which was on the ground floor. They had the door and all the windows open since it was so hot. Sam sat in the door opening, desperately wishing she could take off her uniform. All of the other guys had, and Zach didn't even have a shirt on at all.

Sam flickered through her textbook, not reading at all, only looking at the pictures. She moaned and closed her eyes. "It's too hot to study!" she exclaimed and threw the book away, hitting Zach's leg.

"Take off your jacket then!" Zach said with a grin and tossed the book back at her.

Sam caught the book, blushed a little at his remark and looked away so the others wouldn't notice. "I'll go get us some ice cream instead."

"Good idea!" Zach said and stood up. "I can help."

They went to the dining room together. Jaden, Chumley and Syrus sat together at a table and drank some soda. Jaden laughed and waved his arms around as he spoke.

"I told you I got Monster Reborn! But even if I didn't, I would totally have beaten Ch−"

Syrus nudged at Jaden and then nodded towards Zach and Sam. "We've got company!" he hissed, making Jaden look up.

"Oh, hi guys!" Jaden said when he saw Sam and Zach. "What's up?"

"We're studying and thought we'd get some ice cream." Sam replied suspiciously. "You?"

"Oh nothing…" Jaden replied evasively. "Study? For what?" he then asked.

"We have a test on Monster Summons next week, didn't you know?" Sam wondered.

"Haha, you guys were sleeping in class as usual, right?" Zach grinned.

"Got that right!" Jaden laughed. "But Crowler is so boring!"

"Well, you better study sooner or later!" Sam said with a smile.

"Yes, _mom!_" Jaden replied, making Zach laugh and Sam blush slightly.

Sam and Zach went into the kitchen and raided the fridge for some popsicles. When they got out in the dining room, Jaden and the others were gone. Sam raised her eyebrows and was about to say something along the lines of "I sure hope they study" when she saw Zach was watching her with a smirk on his face. She swallowed her comment and pouted a little, not meeting Zach's eyes.

They got back to the room and handed out the popsicles to the guys.

"Thanks!" they all said and started to eat.

Zach pulled out a stereo and started playing some music. Sam grimaced a little − she didn't like hip hop − but didn't say anything since the other guys seemed to like it. She looked out over the part of the island you could see from the Slifer Red dorm − the bridge to the smaller island, the cliffs, the forest…

Sam suddenly jerked her head up and almost choked on her ice cream.

"Oh, crap! I have to go!" she yelled and threw away the rest of her popsicle in the trash can.

"Wait, what? Where are you going?" Zach asked.

"Sam!" Duncan yelled after her as she ran away.

"Sorry!" Sam shouted over her shoulder. "I'll be back later!"

She ran over the school campus with a smile on her face, strangely relieved. Then she realized why and couldn't help but laugh a little − she had been having so much fun with the guys and worrying about the test with them she'd almost forgotten about Loah Jackson.

Sam turned left when she reached the main building and ran along a smaller path leading into the forest. It took her a few minutes to run through the forest and when she got out on the other side she had the gym right in front of her. She forced herself to stop running and tried to catch her breath while walking slowly towards the eastern side of the large building.

Loah was standing with his back turned against her and his face turned up towards the sun, his eyes closed and his face relaxed. Sam stared at him, her mouth slightly open and a small blush on her cheeks.

Then he suddenly blinked and turned around

"Oh, hi." he said, his green eyes smiling towards her.

_Connection lost, connection lost__. _Sam stared at Loah and tried to form a coherent thought while trying to avoid gaping like a goldfish. After what felt like an eternity she swallowed hard and managed to say; "Hi."

Loah didn't notice, though. Or he did, but he just ignored it. He looked at his feet for a moment before looking up at Sam. "I truly am sorry." he said, completely serious. "I helped you cheat during the entrance exam, but you weren't aware of it." he hesitated a moment but then continued. "I should tell the Chancellor but I'm afraid you'll get expelled, and I can't have that on my conscience."

Sam swallowed hard again but didn't say anything. Loah took her hand and looked her straight in her eyes, still completely serious.

"Will you accept my apology?" he asked.

Sam managed to nod slightly but then realized it probably wasn't good enough. "Yes." she almost whispered, but Loah heard. His face lit up in a genuine smile before he got serious again.

"I'm sorry, but you're right about us." Sam blinked, surprised, which Loah noticed. "I mean the fact that Obelisk Blues don't hang out with Slifer Reds. Someone might ask questions. It's better if…" he closed his eyes and then looked away. "… if we don't see each other."

Sam gritted her teeth and looked away as well. Why did she have to go and say something like that? When she turned back she saw Loah was watching her with a sad smile on his lips.

"I'm happy you accepted my apology." he said. "Good bye."

"Bye." Sam managed to say while trying to ignore the lump at the back of her throat.

Loah smiled towards her one last time before turning around and walking away. Sam stood still and watched him disappear between the trees, wishing there was something she could do to make him stay.

But she knew it was better if they didn't see each other.


	6. A secret revealed

**A/N: **Something finally happens! *discodance of happiness*

... *ahem*

* * *

After a specifically big test one morning they all got the rest of the day off to rest a bit. It was a Friday afternoon and the weather was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky and only a slight breeze.

Sam, Duncan, Zach and some other guys from the Slifer Red dorm were all down by the beach. They had brought food from the cafeteria; Dorothy would happily aid any student, and were eating lunch together in the shadow of a big tree. They were all wearing casual clothes, mostly shorts and t-shirts because of the hot weather.

"… but I still can't believe Jaden beat Chazz even though he had all those rare cards."

"Where are Jaden and Syrus anyway?" Sam asked and took another sandwich.

"Didn't you hear?" Zach said and sat up straight. "They were caught trespassing in the abandoned Obelisk Blue dorm last night!"

"Wow. So they're in detention or something?"

"Nope, much worse. The Disciplinary Action Squad picked them up this morning and brought them to the Chancellor. They're going to have a Tag Team Duel with someone, and if they loose they'll be kicked out of the school! They're practicing over by the dorm as we speak."

"Seriously?" both Duncan and Sam said at the same time.

"Who are they going to duel?" Kurou, who was sitting nearby, asked quietly.

"It's not decided yet… or maybe it is, but I haven't heard of it yet." Zach replied and looked kind of annoyed that there was something going on that he didn't know about.

"Maybe it's Crowler and someone else. He's been trying to get them kicked out since the first day of school. Kind of resentful if you ask me." Sam said thoughtfully and took a bite of her sandwich.

"Yeah, all Jaden did was beat Crowler in a duel, and now he's trying to get them expelled!" Duncan agreed. "… and who wouldn't want to defeat Crowler in a duel?"

They all laughed.

"Well, I'm going for a swim." Zach said after they finished eating. "Who's with me?" he asked and pulled off his shirt.

All the guys except Sam and Kurou wanted to go swimming. She watched as they all ran down to the shore. They shouted and yelled as they ran out in the water − even though the weather was nice the water wasn't very warm − and started splashing water towards each other.

"You don't like to swim?" Sam asked and tried to sound friendly.

"No." Kurou answered without even looking at her.

Sam frowned and stood up. She left Kurou under the tree and walked down to the beach. The guys were playing in the water, wrestling and splashing water towards each other. Duncan was diving under the water and grabbing people's ankles, making them shout in surprise. A couple of guys were throwing a beach ball between each other.

Sam smiled. Guys were so much simpler and easier to be with than girls. Girls were much pushier, they could have furious mood-swings and new best friends every day, depending on if they were mad with you or not. Guys weren't as easily offended, and even though they were pretty bad at expressing emotions they felt more… real. Sam didn't know how else to describe it.

Zach suddenly noticed Sam was watching them and waved at her.

"Come on, Sam! Don't you wanna to swim too?"

"You know I can't because of my disease." Sam replied calmly.

"But you could stay where you can reach the bottom! Plus, it can't be that bad − I've seen you run and do other stuff like that dozens of times!"

Sam quietly cursed herself for not being more careful, but still smiled. "No really, Zach, I don't want to."

"Oh, yeah?" Zach said with a mischievous smile. He nodded slightly towards a tanned guy with long brown hair and they both started walking towards Sam. She backed a little and kept a watchful eye on Zach and his friend.

Duncan noticed what was going on and yelled:

"Come on, Zach, he doesn't want to!"

Everyone else stopped what they were doing and watched as Zach and the other guy approached Sam slowly.

But Duncan's shout only made Zach's smile wider. He and the other guy simultaneously started running towards Sam. She quickly turned around and started to run as well, but didn't get far until she tripped and fell over.

The guys were quickly there and lifted her up; Zach holding her by her wrists and the other guy had a firm grip around her legs. She started to squirm and tried to make the guys let go.

"Come on guys! This isn't funny, let me go!" she shouted, not smiling anymore and practically punching Zach to make him let go. "LET GO!"

They didn't care about her violent tries to break free and carried her down to the sea. They waded out into the ocean with her between them, not stopping until the water reached them to their hips. At that point, Sam was already soaked from the waves and splashes.

Duncan was running towards them − shouting at them to let go − but was obviously slowed down by the water, the other guys just watched but didn't look too happy with the progress of things.

"One, two, three!" Zach yelled and let go of Sam's wrists while the other guy let go of her ankles. She breathed in sharply but a bit too late − she inhaled a bit of water and vanished beneath the surface. It took her a while to stand up straight and during those few seconds she panicked and waved her arms and legs around in wild despair. She hit something with her right arm and briefly hoped it was Zach.

She stood up and immediately started to cough up the water she'd inhaled. Zach and the other guy just stood beside her, laughing. Duncan finally reached them and started off by shoving Zach aside.

"You could've killed him! Are you insane?" he yelled. Zach still smiled, but looked a bit guilty. "Sam, are you alright?" Duncan asked and placed his hand on her shoulder. She shook it off and refused to look at him, her hair covering her eyes.

"Don't touch me." she whispered.

"Sam…" Duncan said and tried to grab her arm.

"I said don't touch me!" Sam yelled and swept out her arm, shoving Duncan aside, and glared at Zach − who at this point wasn't smiling anymore. "You're fucking insane!"

Sam started to wade towards the shore, Duncan following her. He gripped her wrist and tried to stop her, but she jerked her hand back and started running. She ran across the beach, past Kurou who were still sitting under the tree and who simply looked at her, and all the way across the campus. When she got to her dorm she ran upstairs and into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Sam went into the bathroom and took off her wet clothes before taking a hot shower. She stood completely still and let the warm water run over her as she stared at the bathroom wall.

She wasn't sad, which frankly surprised her a bit. She was very angry.

_Well, I guess that's the downside to just being with boys__,_ she thought. _They are much less sensitive… which mostly would be a good thing. If I would've been a 'normal' boy, I probably would just have laughed it off. I guess I need more practice at being a guy._

She sighed and turned off the water before starting to dry herself with a warm, fluffy towel. She put on her bra and a pair of sweatpants and then looked around in search of something. She shrugged to herself; she must've left her shirt in the other room.

Sam opened the door to her bedroom and immediately froze, her mouth open and her eyes wide in surprise.

Duncan stood turned against the wall and desk − looking at the picture of Sam and her father − but turned around when he heard the door open and started to speak.

"Sam! I just wanted to…" but then he froze as well and simply stared.


	7. Another secret revealed

They were sitting on Sam's bed; neither of them knew what to say. They must've been sitting quietly there for at least half an hour before Sam sighed and said:

"It's gonna be weird from now on. It's gonna be so weird."

Duncan looked at her, surprised.

"Why?"

"Because you know I'm a girl!"

"Why would that change anything?" Duncan said, genuinely confused.

"But what if you…!" Sam started but trailed off. She blushed and looked down at her feet. "What if you… fell in love with me?" she murmured, embarrassed to death for even saying her thoughts out loud.

"Oh!" Duncan said, blushed and looked down as well. "Oh." They were quiet for a while before Duncan coughed a little. "That's not going to happen."

Sam looked up, surprised, and then angry. She opened her mouth and were about to yell something along the lines of "Why? Am I not good enough for you?" when Duncan noticed her expression. He sweat dropped and blushed like crazy before waving his hands in front of himself to defend himself.

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant!" He shouted before sighing and looking down again. He covered his face with his hands and sighed yet again.

Sam closed her mouth and felt her anger subside quickly. There was obviously something weird going on with her friend. She stayed quiet and waited for Duncan to explain by his own free will.

It took several minutes before Duncan finally spoke again.

"Since I know your secret I might as well tell you mine…" he said, still with his hands over his face. He seemed to brace himself before blurting out: "Imgay."

"W-what?" Sam asked, surprised.

"I-I'm gay." Duncan said slowly and looked right into Sam's eyes.

Sam felt a bit thrown off by this, but at the same time she felt relieved for a reason she couldn't quite figure out. "Oh." she said, since she couldn't figure out anything else to say. "… does anyone else know?"

"No." Duncan said quietly.

"Not even Zach or Kurou?"

"Not even my family. I-I'm not sure what my father w-would think if… i-if −" he choked and went quiet.

Sam looked at him with compassion and sadness in her eyes. She leaned closer and hugged him tightly. He tensed up and she could tell he was a little surprised at first, but then he relaxed and hugged her back. When she let go, he turned away and wiped a few tears from his eyes.

"You know I'll like you no matter who you love." Sam said with a shy smile.

Duncan jerked his head up and stared at her before smiling, blushing slightly and looking away.

"Thanks. I like you too."

"… so what are we going to do now?" Sam asked after a long time.

"Uh… continue lying like we did before?"

Sam laughed exhaustedly. She lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

"…I'm sorry, but I have to ask: Are you in love with someone here?" she asked when she couldn't possibly stay quiet anymore.

"Yeah, I figured you'd ask sooner or later." Duncan smirked and then got serious. "Yeah, I am… but he's already in love with another guy."

"What?" Sam sat straight up. "How many gay guys are there on DA?"

Duncan looked at her with surprise in his eyes and then burst out laughing uncontrollably. He gasped for air and clenched his stomach tight. Sam couldn't help but start laughing as well when she saw and heard him. They laughed together for a good while and it took a few minutes before they stopped, but they were still giggling a little.

"Honestly, what did you think?" Duncan chuckled. "There are practically only guys here on DA, and they girls who are here are also… you know." he trailed off with an embarrassed smile.

"What? You mean the girls too…?"

"Yes! Seriously, we live together − two or three _teenage_ boys in each room − for three years. It's not that weird that you start having feelings for someone. And the same goes for the girls."

"Huh. I guess that's true." Sam said, then shook her head and laughed a bit. "God, I feel so stupid now! It's pretty obvious when you think about it."

"Yeah, well… you had your own problems to deal with." he paused. "… Speaking of which, does anyone else know?"

"…yeah, a senior from Obelisk Blue." Sam frowned.

"What?" Duncan asked, surprised but smiling.

"I didn't tell him! He figured it out himself, believe it or not. It the first time he saw me, during the entrance exam when I duelled him. He said he just kind of… knew."

"… So you're in love with him?" Duncan wondered after a while.

"I am not!" Sam shouted, a bit shocked.

Duncan simply laughed and let it go. They were quiet for another few minutes, but it wasn't as awkward anymore. It was more of a comforting, friendly silence and Sam smiled to herself, knowing that Duncan would never tell anyone her secret − especially not since she knew his.

Sam suddenly looked out her window and noticed that the sun was starting to set.

"Maybe we should go get something to eat." she said.

"Oh… yeah, maybe we should." Duncan stood up and looked from the door to Sam before saying; "I could go first, you know… and tell Zach that he has to apologize to you."

"No", Sam said, "I don't want him to apologize just because you told him to. He has to do it by himself."

"… True." Duncan said and shrugged a little. Then he walked over to the door and opened it slightly. "Wanna go?"

"Yeah." Sam said and stood up before following Duncan outside.

The minute they stepped into the dining room Zach stood up next to the table he had been sitting at.

"Sam!" he exclaimed and ran up to her and Duncan. There he stopped, looking down at the floor and scraping with his feet along the floor. He hesitated and bit his lip. "I'm sorry." he then murmured, but kept eye contact with Sam.

"That's okay," Sam sighed but smiled, "I'm fine."

"Good!" Zach said and lit up. "You guys haven't eaten yet, right? It's fried shrimp today."

Sam had to resist the urge she got to hug Zach, but grabbed him by the neck and wrestled him a bit instead. They all laughed together and went to get something to eat.


	8. When Sam met Roxanne

**A/N:** lol at the title. Meh, whatever.

I actually really like this episode (I always say 'episode' instead of 'chapter' when it comes to _this_ story for some reason) and I really like Roxanne ;)

* * *

"Alright, which one of you punks did it?"

Sam and the others simply stared at the female Ra Yellow student who had appeared in their dining room only seconds ago. She held several small pieces of paper in her hands, waving of them around while glaring at the Slifer students. She was pretty cute actually, she had really short, dark and curly hair, her skin was olive and she had big brown eyes − but at the moment she was furious.

"Uh… did what?" Duncan asked after a while when nobody else said anything.

"Don't act like you don't know what happened! One of you Slifer Red rejects sneaked into our dorm last night when we were asleep!" the Ra girl yelled. "And look what he did!" she threw the pieces of paper at the dining students. The guys in the dining room flinched slightly, but papers just flew around before landing on the floor.

Sam, who had just finished her breakfast, bent down and picked up one of the papers. It was a photo showing a girl sleeping in her bed, wearing nothing more than panties and a bra.

"Let me see that." Duncan said and snatched the photo from Sam before she got a chance to say anything. "Woops." he blushed slightly when he saw the picture. Sam had to remind herself that he was homosexual − otherwise she probably would've gotten mad.

All over the room the other guys were looking at the pictures as well, laughing and whispering. Apparently the other photos had similar motives. The Ra Yellow girl blushed slightly when she realized what she'd done. Sam and Duncan stood up simultaneously and went around the room, taking back the photos again.

"Here." Sam said and gave back the photos to the girl. Duncan stood next to Sam, smiling towards the Ra student. "So you have no idea who did it?"

"No, we were all asleep." she replied, but she still looked kind of suspicious.

"Well, then… how did you know it was a Slifer student?" Duncan asked.

"The idiot who did this used a box to climb over the fence on his way in, but when he tried to climb back after taking the pictures his uniform got torn." she held up a sleeve which obviously belonged to a Slifer Red uniform. "Also he dropped the pictures there by the fence, where we found them this morning."

"Well, in that case all we have to do is find the student with a tattered jacket." Sam said with a smile. She, the Ra girl and Duncan all looked around in the room. All of the other students were staring at them and all of them had their jackets on, but none of them were torn.

"Huh. Is there anyone who's not he−" but the Ra girl didn't get any further, because at that exact moment Zach came walking through the door with one of his usual, over-confident smile on his face.

"Mornin' guys! Hey, does anyone know where you can get a new ja−" He trailed off when he saw Duncan, Sam and the Ra student all standing together. "Crap." was all Zach said and desperately tried to hide his tattered jacket behind his back while rapidly becoming tomato red in his face.

"YOU!" the Ra girl shouted and pointed at Zach, who flinched and widened his eyes in surprise. "You little creep! I'm gonna shove that camera of yours so far up your −!"

"Whoa!" Sam said and held the girl back when she tried to make a move towards Zach.

Zach yelped and hid behind Duncan, who immediately pushed him away. "I can't believe you'd do something like that!" Duncan said and grabbed Zach, turning him so he faced himself. "That's low even for you!"

"Oh, come on! You're supposed to be on _my_ side here!" Zach exclaimed and swept out with his hands.

"What's going on here?" an adult's voice suddenly asked. Everyone turned around and saw Banner, who was holding Pharaoh in a tight grip, coming out from the kitchen.

"This little creep snuck into our dorm last night and took these photos!" the Ra Yellow girl said and waved the photos in front of Banner's face while pointing at Zach, who tried to hide behind Duncan again.

Banner's cheeks turned slightly pink. "Oh my…" he said, but then got serious and turned to Zach. "Zach, is this true? Did you sneak into the Ra Yellow dorm?"

"Yes…" Zach murmured and quit trying to hide. He looked down and scraped his feet along the floor instead.

"Zach, this is serious. Trespassing is a very serious crime here at Duel Academy, you could get expelled!" Zach jerked his head up and stared at Banner in disbelief, his mouth hanging open but not a word came over his lips.

"Professor, with all due respect…" Sam began. "… even though he's pretty rude and tactless, he hardly deserves to get kicked out of the school. I mean, he hasn't done anything else this bad!"

"Yes, I have to agree with Sam." Duncan said after hesitating for a moment. "He is our friend after all and I can't just stand by and watch him get expelled." Zach turned towards Duncan and looked as if he wanted to hug him but he came to his senses before he actually did it.

Banner sighed. "Yes well, I guess I'll have to take you to the Chancellor. He'll have to decide what to do with you." he said and took a step forward, motioning Zach to follow him. Zach hung his head but followed Banner out the door without a word. When the door closed the other students immediately began to eat and talk again, as if nothing had happened.

Sam turned towards the Ra student. "You don't want him to get expelled either… right?" she asked.

She sighed and looked away. "I guess not." she turned back. "He really hasn't done anything like this before?"

Duncan looked at the ground and scraped his feet along the floor while Sam looked away and played with her hair. "Well… he has tried to sneak into the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm a few times, but he never actually managed to do it." Duncan said, slightly embarrassed. "I guess he realized the Ra Yellow dorm was easier to sneak into."

"And once he got caught in the middle of the night outside the Obelisk girls' dorm, singing a love song to Alexis Rhodes." Sam said. "And the day after that he sent a dozen bouquets of roses to all the Obelisk Blue girls as an apology. I don't even know where he got those!"

"Haha yes, and this one time he high-jacked the intercom and played hip hop all over the school. It took the teachers several hours to figure out he was on the roof so they could stop him!"

"That was him?" the Ra Yellow girl said, but she smiled. "One of my friends had a spontaneous party in a corridor thanks to him! We danced there for like an hour!"

Sam and Duncan laughed.

"So maybe he's not that bad?" Sam grinned.

"I guess not." the Ra student said with a slight smile. "I'm Roxanne Callahan, by the way."

"I'm Duncan and this is Sam."

"Nice to meet you." Roxanne said with an embarrassed smile. "Sorry it's not under more pleasant circumstances."

"Haha, yes. Well, maybe we can meet up some other time?" Sam said.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." Roxanne replied. "I have to go. See you guys around!"

"Bye!" Duncan and Sam said and waved slightly as Roxanne walked out from the Slifer Red dining room, noticeably happier than when she walked in.


	9. I know your secret

**A/N:** Yeah, remember how I used to say that the plot doesn't start until episode nine? Just don't kill me when you find out just how crappy it is.

* * *

"Okay, either someone keeps moving my PDA, or it grew legs." Duncan said and rummaged through his school bag.

Sam, Duncan and Zach were all walking through the corridors on their way to their next class. The corridor was filled with students going either direction or just standing around talking, even though it wasn't long until the next class started.

"I don't know anyone who'd want to use your PDA to check what our next class is − and definitely not me − but if I did know someone like that, that someone, err… might have left it in the front pocket." Zach said and grinned guiltily.

Duncan glared at Zach over his school bag, now with a PDA in his hand. "Did you lose yours again?" he asked.

"I didn't loose it. It grew legs." Zach replied and grinned when Duncan looked even madder.

Sam didn't notice what they did though − she'd just seen Loah Jackson at the other end of the corridor and he was watching her as well. All of his friends were standing around him, laughing and talking, but he didn't notice and his green eyes were completely serious.

It was harder than she thought, staying away from him. When you started to get used to the surroundings, the school felt a lot smaller, and Sam almost bumped into Loah several times. She had to take detours and walk through extra corridors in order to avoid him, and often she was late for class because of this. At first she could just say that she got lost, but when they got used to the corridors and classrooms, that excuse didn't work anymore.

Sam sighed. Then she suddenly tripped over something and lost her balance. She fell forwards and had to put out her hands in to avoid landing right on her face. All the books she had been carrying were scattered out over the floor and to her horror she could hear a loud ripping noise; her bag must've been torn apart.

She sat up, shook her head and tried to figure out what had happened. All of the Obelisk students and some of the Ra laughed, but the Slifer Red students remained silent.

"Watch where you're going, slacker!" an unpleasant voice said. Sam looked up and saw a mean-looking Obelisk Blue student along with his friends. They all laughed and then walked away.

"Sam, are you okay?" Duncan asked and kneeled down next to her. He started to pick up her books, but she waved her hands and shook her head.

"I'm fine. You guys go ahead without me, or you'll be late for class."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes. Now go on!" she said and forced herself to smile towards Duncan and Zach.

They gave her an insecure smile and then went away. The other students in the corridor started to walk away as well, not even looking at Sam and leaving her all alone. The school bell suddenly rang for the first time and Sam frowned. She would probably be late for class again.

She studied her bag and saw that it had in fact been torn apart; the shoulder-strap had been ripped off so she couldn't even carry her books now. Sam sighed and closed her eyes while rubbing her forehead, feeling a head ache building up.

"You know, all Obelisk Blues aren't that bad." a voice said right next to her.

Sam jumped and looked up. Loah smiled towards her and kneeled down next to her, picking up a few of her books. He handed them over to Sam.

"Thanks." she said and collected some papers, trying to put them in order before shoving them down her bag. "I know Obelisk's aren't all that rude. You're definitely not." she smiled. Loah opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the school bell ringing for the second time. "What are you doing here anyway; you'll be late for class!"

When she didn't get a reply, Sam looked up and saw sadness in Loah's eyes, but he smiled at the same time. She could help but stare − his green eyes were so beautiful. He took Sam's bag away from her and stood up, grabbing Sam's arm and pulling her up as well.

"It's a lot harder than I thought… trying to stay away from you." Loah said and brushed a strand of hair away from Sam's eyes.

She gulped and tried to ignore her heart fluttering in her chest. Then Loah subtlety leaned forward and Sam turned her head up, her eyes dreamily half-lidded and her mouth a little open. She lifted her arms − shaking slightly − and loosely placed her hands on Loah's hips. He turned his head so their noses wouldn't' bump into each other and came even closer. His breath ran along Sam's lips, making them tingle and her entire body tremble.

A sudden thud made the both of them jump. Sam quickly pushed Loah away from herself and at the same time grabbed her bag. They looked around to see who or what had made the noise, but there were no one there.

"Right." Sam said and desperately tried to hide her tomato red face. "Well, I have to go to class."

"Uh, yeah. Me too." Loah said and scratched the back of his head. "I'll… see you around." He nodded a little and then walked past Sam.

Sam started walking the other way before suddenly stopping. She blinked, turned around and walked back. At the exact spot Loah and herself had been standing she met Loah, who were walking the other way now, his cheeks slightly pink.

"Wrong way." he murmured when he walked by Sam.

"Yeah, me too." she replied without looking at him.

* * *

After the usual ranting about morality and why you shouldn't be late for class by Crowler, Sam actually got to sit down at her seat next to Zach and Duncan. She put her torn school bag on the table, spreading out the books all over her desk.

"Dude, where were you?" Zach whispered when Crowler continued his ranting down by the blackboard. "You were gone for a really long time."

"Uh, yeah… my bag got torn so I had some trouble carrying my books." _Technically not a lie!_ "Do you know if you can get a new one around here somewhere?"

"I don't really know, but I bet Dorothy have some at her shop."

"Yeah, I you butter her up good enough I bet you can get one for free." Zach grinned.

"Mr Sharpe, Marshall and Watson!" Crowler yelled, making them all jump. "Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"

"No, Professor Crowler." Duncan said, slightly embarrassed.

"Well, if you're not _busy_ doing anything else you might as well get down here. I thought I'd demonstrate a three-part duel, and I need some volunteers." Crowler said with a smile none of them liked.

After an exhausting three-part duel (Duncan won) with Crowler narrating their every move and criticizing everything they did wrong, the class was finally over. All of the other students quickly disappeared, but Sam, Zach and Duncan stayed behind. Sam had some trouble carrying all her books since she couldn't use her bag.

"Here, let me help." Duncan said and took a few of the books.

"Thanks." Sam said, relieved, and started walking towards the doors.

"Hey, Sam. Is this ours?" Zach asked and bent down. He picked up a piece of paper from the floor and stood up again.

"No, I don't think so."

"It fell out from one of your books."

"Let me see that." Sam said and took the paper away from Zach. She was sure it wasn't her paper, but if it was in her book… She unfolded the piece of paper and stared at the simple line written on it.

'I know your secret.'

* * *

**A/N:** Dun dun dunnn...!

Okay, I'll shut up now.


	10. I'm a girl

**A/N:** Kind of realized I left you with a cliff-hanger the last episode... and that I haven't updated in a week. Heh, sorry.

**Also, I've decided that I am going to finish this story, even if it'll take me a couple of months :)**

* * *

'I know your secret.'

Sam simply stared at the paper. She didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do. It felt as is the world disappeared and she was being sucked into black, swirling despair.

"Oh crap…" Duncan whispered in Sam's ear but he could've been a thousand miles away. Sam didn't notice anything happening around her until Zach nudged at her rather violently. She blinked and looked up at him.

"I said; what secret?" he asked curiously.

Sam and Duncan exchanged looks. Duncan nodded slightly towards her and she sighed.

"Let's skip the last class." Duncan said and started walking towards the doors, Sam following him closely. Zach blinked and then followed them, leaning forward to look Duncan in the eyes.

"You know I'm always up for skipping class, but what the heck is going on?"

"We have to talk." Sam simply said, ignoring any further questions Zach had.

They got to the Slifer Red dorm undetected − all the other students and teachers were in class − and went up to Sam's room. By now, Zach had stopped asking questions and were pouting slightly instead.

Sam opened the door and invited the guys. She put down her bag and the books on her desk before closing the door behind Duncan and Zach. Sam sat down on her bed while Duncan sat on the edge of the desk, but Zach still stood up.

"Okay, so what's going on?" Zach asked, actually serious, which was rather frightening.

"There's something I want to tell you… it'll probably freak you out a bit. And, uh… it's part of the reason why I'm acting so strange sometimes." Sam slowly said and the hesitated, biting her lip. Then she closed her eyes and made up her mind. "I'm… a girl."

"Haha, what?" Zach said with a disbelieving and amused expression on his face.

"No really, Zach. I'm a girl." Sam said again, keeping eye contact with Zach, her face completely serious.

"BWAHAHAHA−" Zach suddenly stopped when he realized Duncan and Sam weren't laughing along with him. "You're not joking, are you?" he said, frowning.

"No."

"Oh, God… DAMNIT!" Zach yelled and turned away from the others before slamming his fist into the wall. His whole body was trembling slightly.

"Zach…" Sam began and grimaced at the sight of him. "… I'm so sorry. I didn't really want _anyone_ to find out."

"Duncan knows!" Zach said without turning towards them.

"He found out by accident!"

"How the bloody hell do you find out 'by accident'?"

"I, uh… walked in on her changing clothes." Duncan said and blushed a little.

"Oh." Zach said, embarrassed as well, but then got mad again. "And why wouldn't you want anyone to know? There are other girls at Duel Academy, what makes you so different?"

"But I'm a Slifer Red reject!" Sam shouted and stood up. Zach turned towards her, a bit surprised but still frowning. "I'm not skilled enough to be in Ra Yellow and not rich enough to be in Obelisk Blue! You can't mess with the girls in Ra and Obelisk − they're too good for that! But if they knew there's a girl in Slifer, I'd be dead meat!"

Zach blinked and stared at Sam, who was breathing heavily, her eyes wide open and her face flustered. Then he turned his head to the side and let out a small laugh. He suddenly looked up and smiled towards Sam before taking a step towards her.

"Did you honestly think we were going to let that happen?" he wondered and swept out with his arms, shrugging slightly.

Sam blinked and relaxed her body, simply staring at Zach as he smiled towards her. Then she took a few fast steps towards him and threw herself around his waist, hugging him tight. She could feel him tensing up a bit, but then he relaxed, laughed a little and patted her on her back. After a while Sam had to pull away. Acting like a guy for so long made her uncomfortable when she behaved like a girl. She exchanged an embarrassed smile with Zach and they both backed away a bit.

"… So who else knows?" Zach asked.

"Oh, just the teachers." Sam replied quickly. "… and a senior from Obelisk Blue named Loah Jackson."

"Wait, what?"

"He was the first one to find out! I duelled him during the entrance exam and later he said that's when he figured it out." Sam frowned a bit but then smiled. "But I really don't think he would tell anyone."

"And how long has Duncan known?"

"About a month I think." Duncan said, exchanged looks with Sam and then nodded. "Yeah, about a month."

"So, uh… are you two… you know?" Zach asked, obviously embarrassed.

Sam and Duncan looked at each other, both confused. Then they suddenly realized what Zach had meant.

"No, no, no!" they both said, waving their hands in front of themselves and shaking their heads. Then they settled down a bit, but Duncan was still blushing slightly.

"Why not?" Zach wondered, genuinely surprised. "I mean… you _are_ kinda cute." he said, turned towards Sam. Sam simply stared at him, not believing what she heard, but Duncan blinked and then started to laugh uncontrollably.

"So the minute you find out I'm a girl you start flirting with me…?" she asked, still in deep disbelief.

Zach blushed a deep shade of red and looked away. "I-I mean, you've always looked the same so I guess… I-I guess you were always cute?" then he suddenly jerked his head up and pointed at Sam. "I always knew you were to pretty to be a guy!"

"Oh, goodness gracious…" Sam murmured and smacked her forehead, Duncan still laughing, gasping for air and gripping his stomach tight in the background.

Zach gave up a sheepish smile which turned into an outright laugh. "Okay, seriously, what's so funny?" he asked when Duncan managed to get a grip of himself.

Duncan immediately frowned and turned away, scratching the back of his head before looking at Sam. She raised her eyebrows towards him and smiled a little. Duncan violently shook his head and looked away, but then closed his eyes and sighed.

"Ooo-okay, now what's wrong?" Zach said slowly, watching the exchange of looks between Duncan and Sam.

"Come on", Sam said, ignoring Zach, "What do you seriously think will happen?"

Duncan gritted his teeth. "Gah." he said, exasperated. "Fine, I'll tell him!" he looked up, meeting Zach's confused eyes. "I'm… I'm gay."

Zach blinked before looking from Duncan to Sam and then back again. Then he smiled. "Yeah, so?" he said, shrugging a little.

Duncan looked as if he was about to cry, but he blinked fast a couple of times and rubbed his eyes before looking at Zach again. "You mean you don't care?"

"No, of course not. Why would I?" Zach said and grinned even wider, but still looked slightly surprised.

Duncan looked down at his feet and blushed. "Thanks, man." he murmured.

They were quiet for a while, thinking about their secrets, which weren't secrets anymore. They were definitely more comfortable with each other now, Sam watched Zach and Duncan when they didn't notice and saw them smiling towards each other without saying anything.

"Wow, it's pretty emotional in here…" Sam said after a while. "Keep this up and we'll all get our periods at the same time, which is kinda cool." Zach and Duncan stared at her, which simply made her laugh. "Sorry, couldn't resist." she said.

"So, uh… I guess you don't have anything you want to share?" Duncan asked, turned towards Zach. He blinked and then grinned.

"No, I don't think I have any secrets."

"Other than, you know…" Sam said with an embarrassed smile. "… You're a lot nicer than you let most people know."

"Hah, thanks." Zach said with a crooked smile.

"Well, uh… the final class is almost over." Duncan said and looked at his PDA. "So it's too late to go back to school. Wanna study instead?"

"Yeah, I guess we might as well." Sam replied but didn't exactly look forward too it. The final tests before holiday break were coming up and the teachers hadn't been easy on them lately. But it was only one week until the holidays, and then they were free for almost a month.

She still thought about the note and who sent it, but it felt easier now when she had another friend who could back her up. She honestly didn't have time to think about the note and whoever sent it this final week in school, but after that she'd deal with it and figure out who'd sent the note.

_One week…_ Sam thought to herself and smiled.


	11. Holiday break!

**A/N:** This episode is just a little interlude, but it turned out _much _longer than I thought it would. lolsorry.

Anyways, I really like it :D

* * *

"Look out!"

Sam dove behind a large snow-drift and just barely managed to avoid being hit by a snowball. She stood up again and laughed while wiping the snow off her clothes.

"Thanks, Duncan!" she yelled.

Duncan gave her a thumbs-up before throwing a snowball at Zach. It hit him on his shoulder, but he quickly returned it and hit Duncan on his left leg. Sam picked up some snow and pressed it into a snowball before throwing it at Zach, who easily avoided it. He was just about to throw one back at her when Duncan tackled him.

"Argh!" he shouted when they hit the ground with a soft thud. They wrestled each other in the snow for a while, both trying to get on top while shoving snow in under each other's clothes. Sam stood next to them and threw snowballs at both of them while cheering them on.

After a while Duncan pushed Zach away from himself and sat up, breathing heavily and his face tomato red. Zach sat up as well and tried to catch his breath for a while before playfully throwing some more snow at Duncan. Duncan twitched and was just about to tackle Zach again when Sam pushed them away from each other.

"Okay, okay!" she said, but she grinned. "I think we're done with this snowball fight. It's getting dark and my clothes are soaked."

"Yeah, let's go change before we get something to eat." Duncan said and stood up, pulling Zach up as well.

While Zach and Duncan went to their room on the first floor, Sam walked up the stairs and to her own room. She went in and closed the door behind her before starting to take off her wet clothes.

She smiled as she glanced over the room. There were Christmas-decorations everywhere and on her bed were three gifts her father had sent her, still in wrapping-paper. Sam had promised herself not to open them until Christmas Eve. Her father was on a business trip and she didn't have any other relatives, so it was pretty pointless for her to go home over the holidays.

Sam knew Zach didn't _want_ to spend the holidays with his family and Duncan basically stayed because they did. Other than that, there were almost no one left at Duel Academy. Jaden, Chumley and Syrus were the only ones in Slifer Red besides themselves, but they had rather stayed inside and played Duel Monsters instead of joining the snowball fight.

She frowned a little and opened her closet, rummaging through the clothes hanging there. Then she suddenly smiled and pulled out a garment she'd almost forgotten. She felt the fabric, remembering she used to love it and had worn it all the time before. Her father had gotten it for her birthday a long time ago, but it still fitted. Sam smiled and pulled it over her head.

* * *

"Sam, are you in there?" Duncan said from outside her door.

"Yeah, com on in." Sam replied.

The door opened and Zach and Duncan came in, wearing dry and clean clothes.

"Hey Sam, great news!" Zach said. "Roxanne is inviting us to, uh…" he trailed off when he saw Sam.

She smiled, slightly embarrassed, towards them and spun around in the small place between her bed and desk. "What do you think?" she asked. She was wearing a light pink dress which reached down to her knees. At the edging and around the shoulders were ruffles with a white bloom pattern, and around her neck she had a necklace with a small, golden charm shaped like a heart.

"Wow, Sam. You, uh… you look very, um…"

"You're really cute." Duncan said with a smile when Zach didn't manage to say anything that made sense. "And Zach; you're drooling. But what we were going to say was that Roxanne invited us over to the Ra dorm for dinner. Apparently she's the only girl left there."

"Oh." Sam said, slightly disappointed. "So I can't wear my dress?"

"Sadly, no." Zach smirked; he'd definitely recovered a bit.

"Oh, well." Sam sighed but smiled. "I was fun to just try it on." she grabbed the edge of the dress and pulled it over her head.

"Whoa!" Zach said and blushed violently. Duncan's cheeks turned slightly pink as well, but he turned around with a smile on his face and studied the wall intently. Zach, on the other hand, stared.

"Oh, behave! I'm still a guy, remember?" Sam grinned and threw the dress as Zach. It got stuck over his head and while he tried to get it off, Sam put on a pair of jeans and a loose-fitting t-shirt. "So are you ready to go?"

They went together over the school campus. No one was around, and by now it was snowing heavily and getting pretty dark. The main building was completely dark, but a few lights were on in the Ra Yellow girls' dorm. The front gate was open, and the front door as well. The gang knocked on the door before stepping in.

"Hello? Roxanne?" Duncan shouted to the empty room.

"Oh, hi guys!" Roxanne said and came into the room from a door to the right. She was wearing a cute black dress with lots of ruffles, which suited her perfectly.

"Wow, Roxi, you look wonderful." Zach said with his usual grin.

"Save it." Roxanne said and then turned towards Duncan and Sam instead. "I'm so glad you guys came! It was getting pretty lonely here; I'm the only one here!"

"Can't you stay at the Obelisk Blue dorm?" Sam wondered as they walked up the stairs together.

Roxanne grimaced a little. "I have to admit I don't really like the Obelisk girls. They're so stuck up!"

"Finally someone who agrees with me!" Zach exclaimed and threw his hands in the air. Roxanne simply gave him and angry look and didn't dignify him with an answer.

"Well, you could stay at our place if you want." Sam said, nudging Roxanne slightly to get her attention. "Or we could stay here."

"Aww, you're so sweet! Yeah, maybe you guys could stay here… there's no one around who can tell you to go home."

"Are you sure you want Zach in the same building as yourself when you sleep?" Duncan asked and then laughed nervously when he received an angry glare from Zach.

They came into a room with a TV and a huge fireplace by the right wall, and a large window covering most of the wall opposite from it. In front of the fireplace were a couple of big, cosy sofas and armchairs and on the floor lay a few large pillows. There was a small table next to the sofas, and on it were several bags of marshmallows and four cups of hot chocolate.

"Wow, the Ra dorm is so much better than the Slifer one…" Duncan said after a while of munching down marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate. "Haaa… I could stay here forever."

Zach glanced at his watch and then grabbed the remote, turning on the TV.

"Oh, come on, Zach! It's so much nicer without the TV on!"

"But they're showing legendary old fights with the king of games; Yugi Moto! They're just about to show his match against Duke Devlin. You know; the one where Yugi didn't know how to play Dungeon Dice Monsters but still won!"

"Eew, Dungeon Dice Monsters suck!" Roxanne exclaimed, making all three of them surprised. "Turn it off!"

The TV suddenly turned off with a small fizz.

"That's better!" both Duncan and Roxanne said.

"No… I didn't do that." Zach said, furiously mashing the buttons on the remote. "Something's wrong."

Roxanne stood up and went away for a minute, leaving the others exchanging confused looks. When she came back she was carrying a torch.

"Looks like the power's out. It's not that weird; look how much it's snowing now!" They all looked out the window but could barely see anything at all; it was pitch black outside. "Oh well, I guess we'll just have to find something else to amuse ourselves with. I know, let's play truth or dare!" she said with an insane smile.

"God, are you serious?" Zach said. He was still trying to make the TV work and didn't even look at Roxanne.

"Yes! Now come on!" she forced them to sit down on the floor in a circle. She put the torch in the middle and then spun it around. It stopped, pointing towards Zach. "Truth or dare?" Roxanne asked and leaned forward expectantly.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me…" he sighed. "Truth."

"Really? Okay then… when was the first time you kissed someone?"

"What?" Zach said and blushed violently. "I, uh… I've… I've never kissed anyone." Roxanne, Duncan and Sam stared at him in shock for a moment and then started laughing uncontrollably. "Oh, come on! It's not that funny!" Zach yelled, as red as a tomato.

"Now we know what you're overcompensating for all the time!" Duncan said, still chuckling. "Anyway, it's your turn to spin the bottle, uh, I mean torch."

Zach leaned forward and spun the torch around. It spun for a long time before it stopped, pointing towards Roxanne this time.

"Heh. Payback time." Zach said with a smirk. "So, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Oh yeah? So when was the first time _you_ kissed someone?"

"I think it was about four years ago, it was this guy named Nathaniel… he was my first love." Roxanne replied while smiling dreamily. Zach frowned, not happy with the response. But Roxanne spun the torch again, and again it stopped at Zach.

"Dare!" Zach said before Roxanne even had the chance to ask.

"Alright then, I dare you to… KISS SAM!"

"WAIT WHAT?" both Zach and Sam yelled.

"You have to do it, you know! If you don't, we'll punish you!" Roxanne said and put her arm around Duncan while smiling like an insane person. Duncan raised her eyebrows towards her; he didn't seem to be in the mood to punish anyone.

Zach turned towards Sam, both of them blushing. He leaned closer and Sam turned her head so her cheek was turned towards Zach. He just barely touched her skin with his lips before quickly pulling away again.

"Happy?" he said, still blushing a little.

"No!" Roxanne exclaimed. "You didn't even kiss him on the mouth!" she sighed. "Just spin the torch, will ya?" Zach spun it around and yet again it pointed towards Roxanne. "Oh, come on! … Dare."

"Well, in that case I dare _you_ to KISS SAM!" Zach shouted.

"_Fine!_" Roxanne said.

Sam was just about to protest − she wasn't their toy! − when she felt a strong hand grabbing her chin and turning her face. Sam blinked and opened her mouth to say something, but then she suddenly felt a pair of soft lips on her own. She blinked again, but then closed her eyes and relaxed her body, letting herself enjoy the kiss. Because she realized that… she did. It didn't scare her or anything − it was just an innocent kiss − even though it was her very first.

* * *

**A/N:** lolwoops xD


	12. I don't know

**A/N:** You know, you can go ahead and skip this episode. I'm sure nothing significant will happen, it's probably just filler.

* * *

Sam stared at the wrinkled piece of paper for the fiftieth time, trying to make out something new, trying to figure out who had sent it and what they wanted.

'I know your secret.'

She sighed, which Duncan noticed. He looked over her shoulder and saw that she was reading the paper yet again.

"Come on, Sam. Stop thinking about it." he said. "Here, have some more fried shrimp." he pushed some shrimps from his own plate to Sam's, but she refused to touch her food.

"I just want to know who sent the note. What can he or she possibly gain by blackmailing me? Me…?"

Zach was gobbling down his food without even breathing. "Maybe… it's that… guy… the Duel Giant." he managed to say between the bites.

"What?" Sam wondered, frowning and staring at Zach in disbelief as pieces of food flew everywhere around him.

"You know, the Duel Giant? He's been challenging Obelisk Blue students and taking their best cards!" Zach said and looked up. He waved his fork around while speaking; the shrimp on it flew away and bounced on Syrus's head before landing in Jaden's lap. "With the ante-rule", he continued, like nothing had happened, "which by the way is illegal here on Duel Academy."

"There's no such thing as the Duel Giant." Duncan said, shaking his head and frowning.

"Yeah there is, and the scary part is he only comes out at midnight."

"No way."

"Yes way!"

"No, and saying 'yes way' sounds incredibly stupid."

"I'm telling you he's real, he's just −"

Sam turned away from them and stopped listening when Jaden, Syrus and Chumley at the table next to them interfered as well. They all agreed with Zach and said that the rumors about the Duel Giant were true, but Duncan refused to believe it.

The Slifer Red dining-room was filled with chatting and eating students, all of them happy and relaxed in the presence of their friends.

_It _can't_ be anyone in Red. It has to be Ra or Obelisk. A Slifer Red would never do that to a fellow student. _Sam thought while looking out over the room. _If I only knew what they want from me!_

"Hey, Sam. Are you done?"

She sighed. "I guess."

Zach rumbled through his school bag before turning towards Sam with a slightly embarrassed look on his face.

"Hey, Sam… do you have our Duel Monsters-history book? I must've left mine in the library when we studied yesterday."

"Zack…" Sam said, closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead.

"I know, I know! But hey, at least I was studying?"

"Alright, fine! It's in my room, probably on my desk or my bed. Here, take my key and go get it. But you have to go find your own book after school, and we're not helping you. Not _this_ time."

"I'm supposed to go into your room…?"

"Oh come on, you've been there plenty of times before and I'm too lazy to go get it for you. I'm not the one who needs it!" Sam said and shrugged, while Duncan turned away to hide his smile.

Zach grabbed the key and went away, muttering.

"Unbelievable." Sam said, shaking her head.

"I know." Duncan replied and held the door open for her as they went out form the Slifer Red dining room. "But we did manage to make him study for once."

"That's only because he knows he'll be expelled if he doesn't pass a test anytime soon. Also, he should be studying by his own will, not because we make him!"

"Well, you know −"

"Guys!" Zach yelled. He came running down the stairs but tripped halfway down, falling flat on his face and dropping both his bag and books as he did. "Ow." he murmured right into the ground, his arms and legs twisted in unnatural angles.

"Zach! Are you alright?" a surprised Duncan shouted and pulled Zach up on his feet, brushing the dirt off his clothes as he did. Sam bent down and picked up his bag and books, or rather; her books.

"Aww, Zach… look what you did! My Duel Monsters-history book is completely ruined! When we find yours I'm taking that one. You can keep mine."

"Thanks for the concern, I am just _fine_." Zach said, snatching both his bag and the books back, holding his nose up high and closing his eyes. Then he snapped back to normal (normal being a very loose term here) and widened his eyes as he looked from Duncan to Sam. "Guys, look what I found!"

"What the hell, Zach; you snooped around my room? Don't you have any sense of…" but then she trailed off as she saw what he was holding up − it was a small, folded piece of paper, with the name 'Sam Marshall' written on it in a neat handwriting.

Sam took the note from him, her hand trembling slightly. She unfolded it and looked at it; yet again nothing more than a simple line was written on it.

'I need money and you to do my homework, otherwise the whole school finds out.'

"He needs… but I can't have much more money than him!" Sam exclaimed, but then remembered to keep her voice low, seeing as they were still standing outside the Slifer dorm. "I'm not rich!" _Quite the opposite actually._

"No, but you're the only one he's got leverage on." Zach whispered, all three of them stood in a close circle now, leaning in over the piece of paper Sam held in the middle.

"Who says it's a 'he'?" Duncan asked.

"Do you really think a girl would do something like that, I mean seriously?"

"Yeah, I guess y− … waaiit a minute." he then said, frowning towards Zach and crossing his arms over his chest. "You found _this_ note, and you found the _pervious_ note… who says it's not _you_? Who says it's not you who writes the notes and black-mails Sam?"

Zach gasped, clearly offended, and stood up straight as Duncan did. Both of them growled and clenched their fists tight, their arms trembling and their teeth gritted.

"Just because I happened to find them doesn't mean I wrote them, you back-stabbing little… It might as well be you! Who says it's not you who wrote the notes and placed them so that _I_ would find them, making it look like it's all _my_ fault?"

"I do." Sam said, her voice barely above a whisper, but it was enough to make both the boys relax their bodies and look down on her in surprise and curiosity. She looked up at them both, with a small smile on her lips but with watery eyes. "It's not either one of you. I know that. I just do."

Duncan and Zach's expressions softened and both of them calmed down simultaneously. They looked from Sam to each other − simply looking each other in the eyes for a couple of moments before saying, at the same time:

"I'm sorry."

Sam looked from one to the other, smiling brightly. "You guys are so cute together."

Duncan eyes widened and blushed slightly before looking away, but Zach rapidly became tomato red in his entire face, even his ears and down on his neck.

"You wh-whaa…?" he stuttered and backed off a bit, obviously uncomfortable.

"Oh Zach, I totally didn't mean it like _that_!" Sam said and grinned, Duncan matching her expression perfectly even though his cheeks still had a pink tone to them. "It was _you_ who interpreted it like that!"

"Anyway", Duncan said, ignoring the furiously stuttering Zach, "where exactly did you find it? Was there anyone else near Sam's room?"

"I, uh… Th-the note was lying on the floor right on the other side of the door, someone must've pushed it in under the door." Zach said, pulling himself together a bit but still not meeting Duncan's eyes.

"And the people?"

"Just a couple of Slifers."

"It can't be any of them, it just can't. They wouldn't do anything like that." Sam paused for a second, looking from Zach to Duncan's disbelieving faces. "… Would they?"

"I don't know." Duncan said with a low voice, closing his eyes and sighing heavily. He stood up straight, Sam and Zach following him. They turned to look at the dorm, which now lay eerily empty and quiet; all the students had already gone to school for the day.

It was supposed to be their home; they were supposed to be a family, take care of each other and help each other out. From the very start, with honor they'd dueled, watched each other's backs and battled with pride. They were closer than brothers… but what was happening with all of that now?

_I don't know._

* * *

**A/N:** And we trust our fates to the heart of the cards...! lolsorry, couldn't resist. I love that song.

Anyways, I was going to upload this yesterday but for whatever reason Fanfiction didn't want to play nice with me :/


	13. The blackmailer

"Who do you think it is? He has to reveal himself sooner or later, otherwise it'll be hard to do the things he asked for."

They were sitting in the library all three of them, books and papers scattered around them in the sofa they were sitting on and on the low table in front of them. They had chosen a quiet corner a bit away from the rest of the students, their own little place hidden behind massive bookshelves, so they could talk in private without whispering too much.

They _had_ been studying for an upcoming test on how to build a strong deck, but the books were long forgotten and the subject had slowly shifted from Duel Monsters, to Duel Academy, to their friends, to whoever it was who was black-mailing Sam.

"He doesn't _have_ to reveal himself to make me do all those things, you know." Sam said.

"It would be a lot easier though." Zach said. He was lying alone on one sofa, with his arms behind his head and his legs up on the backrest. "Especially for us." he yawned. "D'you know what you should do? You should win a couple of duels, advance to Ra Yellow and _then_ reveal you're a girl. They won't bully you after advancing like that."

"I am so not good enough to win over Ras or Obelisks. Besides, I kind of…" she trailed off, blushing slightly. "I wanna stay here with you guys."

Duncan smiled towards her, and Zach smiled too, with his eyes closed.

"What was the name of that guy again?" Sam looked at Duncan questioningly. "You know, that guy from Obelisk Blue who also knows you're a girl."

"Oh, Loah Jackson?" Sam saw Duncan's raised eyebrow and immediately sat up straight, waving her arms in front of her. "Oh, no no no! He'd never do that!"

"You sure?"

"He said that when he saw me… there was something about me that made him wanting to protect me, that's why he didn't tell anyone in the first place." Sam said with a slight blush, not meeting their eyes. "Besides, he was the first one to find out, why would he wait until now?"

"But what if he told one of his friends, someone he thought he could trust but it turns out he couldn't? After all, you did tell us."

"He just doesn't seem like the kind of person who would. I bet his friends are just as nice as him."

"But they're _Obelisks_." Zach butted in without opening his eyes.

"Exactly. Maybe you should go talk to him, tell him what happened. If he is such a good guy, of course he'll help."

"No, I don't want to do that!" Sam exclaimed, but then remembered to keep her voice low. After all, they were in the library. "I don't want to bother him… We kind of made this agreement that we wouldn't see each other… things were getting complicated and we couldn't see each other anymore, it just made things even _more_ complicated."

"So you _are_ in love with him?" Duncan wondered, a mocking smile playing over his lips.

"Am not!" Sam shouted, but couldn't help the guilty blush that spread across her cheeks.

Zach chuckled.

"… Still think you should go talk to him though. We'll follow, if you think it'll help." Duncan said after a while of rather awkward silence. "It can't get worse, can it?"

"You know, every time someone says that; it _does_ get worse."

Sam moaned and threw her head backwards, staring at the ceiling for while. "All right." she finally said. "Come on, we'll call him and arrange a meeting somewhere private. We can't just show up at the Obelisk dorm, that's like suicide."

Duncan and Zach laughed a little, but agreed and started picking up the books and papers lying around their little studying place.

"Hey Zach, isn't this the history book you forgot here yesterday?" Duncan asked and held up a thick book.

"Yoink!" Sam exclaimed and snatched it from him. Zach looked offended, as he'd been just about to take the book from Duncan. "Oh come on, Zach! You totally ruined _my_ book, so I'm taking _yours_!"

Zach sulked but said nothing.

As they walked through the library they couldn't help but look at people sitting there, studying and talking with low voices. Was it one of them? Was it that Ra Yellow student sitting alone over there, reading intensely? Or one of the Obelisk Blue girls, gossiping and laughing when they should be doing their homework? Or that Obelisk guy, flicking through his deck and checking the facts on his cards?

Sam, Zach and Duncan exchanged looks − they knew they were all thinking the same thing.

When they got to the exit, Zach suddenly stopped, making Sam almost walk into him.

"Hey look, how cool!" he pointed towards a poster carefully taped on the wall besides the door. It showed an old picture of Yugi Moto, back when he'd just earned the title 'King of Games'. He looked to be about 15 years old, and stood with his Duel Disk ready and with a big grin on his face. "They're showing his deck here at Duel Academy in a few days! How cool is that?" Zach said, clearly happier than before.

"Not very." Duncan said, hardly impressed.

"D'you wanna go see it?" Zach said and turned to them with a wide smile and big puppy-dog eyes.

"No?" Sam said, and then sighed when she saw Zach's disappointed face. "Look, if he himself had been here, sure, that would be amazing! But his deck alone? A deck is just a deck."

"How could you say that?" a voice suddenly said behind them. The three of them turned around to find Jaden with an excited face, and behind him stood Syrus, a bit more embarrassed over his friend's temper.

"Oh, hi Ja−"

"A deck is like you life, your family and friends!" Jaden said, cutting off Zach's greeting. Zach frowned and looked annoyed. "I put my heart and soul into my deck, and I think everyone else should too! When you duel, you show off your deck and doing so you should be showing off your life, your personality!"

"Alright, Jaden, calm down." Syrus said, stepping in between his friend and Sam, Duncan and Zach. "Everyone's entitled to their own opinion." he said, put a hand on Jaden's chest and tried to push him away.

"Everyone's entitled to _my_ opinion, yes."

"Everyone's entitles to their own opinion." Duncan said with a dead serious voice, getting all of their attentions at once. "Except for when it's wrong." he added with a smile. "To me, I think dueling is a science, you can calculate your opponent's move if you know what their deck and strategy looks like, and figure out a way to destroy that strategy and block your opponents moves."

"… Have you been talking to Bastion?" Jaden wondered with a frown.

"Who?"

"Anyways, I'm not going to look at a deck." Sam said, hindering Jaden from replying. "But Zach, you can go with Jaden and Syrus if you want. They're clearly going."

"B-but…!" Zach said. "It'll be like homework, we do have a test on deck-building coming up?" he tried to do the puppy-dog eyes again, but it didn't bite on either Duncan or Sam.

"Come on, Zach. We've got stuff to do." Duncan said and grabbed Zach by the collar of his Slifer Red jacket, dragging him away. "Bye, guys! Don't forget to study for the test!"

As the door to the library shut behind them, they could hear Jaden turning to Syrus and asking: "What test?"

Sam smiled to herself but immediately got serious again as soon as they got outside. Jaden had that effect on most people she'd met − his happiness and complete carelessness was contagious, you truly forgot all your worries when he was around… but the second he left, it all came back.

It was February and even though it wasn't snowy any more it was still pretty cold, the grass on the ground brown and dead, the trees without their leaves and a cold wind swept over the campus as Sam, Duncan and Zach walked across it. The Slifer dorm wasn't very pleasant this time of the year; the walls were thin and the blankets too; at night they could hear the wind whistle through the cracks in the wall. Sam had it even worse though, since she had a room by herself. A lot of the nights she moved in to Zach and Duncan's room and often allowed the later to crawl down next to her in bed, knowing he'd never do anything towards her.

"Sam, what are we doing here?" Zach asked as they got closer to their dorm. "I thought you were going to contact that Obelisk guy."

"Because I'm pretty sure I left my PDA in my room. Plus I don't feel like dragging my books all over campus to the Obelisk Blue dorm."

"Oh yeah, but dragging them all over campus to _our_ dorm is just fine."

"Oh, shut up." Sam said without turning towards him as they walked up the stairs to the deck. Truth was she definitely needed some time to prepare herself. Just calling Loah like that, asking him to help her? _No way._

Sam rummaged through her bag to get her key and ignored Zach and Duncan as they talked about something behind her, not loud enough for her to hear it but not low enough to be a secret. It probably wasn't important.

Her insides were a knot. It was stupid, but she couldn't help it − she was nervous. She remembered the day when she and Loah had agreed to meet; she had been just as nervous that time. She couldn't… be in love, could she? She sighed as her fist closed itself around the key lying at the bottom of her bag. _No, I am _not_ in love._ That would just complicate things even more. _So no − not in love._

The door swung open without a sound as she turned the doorknob, and she was just about to walk inside when she froze. A person was standing in her room, his back turned towards them, but he turned his head when he noticed the door was suddenly open.

Sam didn't recognize him at first − it was so long since she'd seen him. He had spiky black hair and glasses which glistened in the light, preventing her from seeing his eyes, but his sharp features said it all.

"Kurou? Wh-what are you doing in my room? Why wou−" But then she trailed off when she saw what he was holding; a small piece of paper with her name written on it in a very familiar handwriting.

Sam's eyes widened in surprise and she was just about to open her mouth to attack him when Duncan dashed for Kurou, his fist clenched tight in a punch and his face twisted into an ugly grimace.

* * *

**A/N:** *GASP*


	14. I challenge you to a duel!

**A/N:** I forgot to update this story! *kicks herself in the butt* I do that sometimes TT_TT

* * *

Duncan's fist hit the side of Kurou's chin with a loud crack, along with a grunt from both of them. Kurou stumbled backwards, the back of his knees hit Sam's bed and he abruptly sat down on it. His hand immediately shot up to his face, correcting his glasses and feeling his chin where a large bruise already started to form. He glared at Duncan with hatred in his eyes and his teeth gritted.

Zach stepped forward and grabbed Duncan's shoulders, dragging him back a bit, but not without a fight. Duncan violently twisted and turned, trying to get away from Zach and trying to hit Kurou again − but it still seemed he was careful not to hit Zach.

"Calm down!" Zach pulled Duncan's arms, trying to get him as far away from Kurou as possible.

"Get off me!" Duncan growled when he and Zach reached the other side of the room, close to where Sam was standing. "G−! Get off me, please." he said, obviously forcing himself to calm down.

"Alright." Zach said and let go off his friend. Duncan brushed off his clothes and corrected his jacket a bit. "You alright?"

"Yeah." Duncan muttered, looking away, but then turned his head towards Kurou, not letting his eyes go.

"Kurou… why?" Sam asked and swept out with her hands. She wasn't angry or mad, only sad and disappointed, and in a weird way… relieved. Now she knew who it was, even though it was hardly a person she'd expected it to be. "Why, why would you do this? Why me, why a fellow Slifer, why, why, why?" she took a step forward, tears burning in the corners of her eyes now.

"Sam…" Zach said, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off.

"Answer me!" she screamed into Kurou's emotionless face.

He looked her straight in the eyes and began to speak in a monotone voice.

"You have no idea what it is like… to grow up with eight older brothers who all look exactly like yourself. You have no idea what it is like to not have a father, to have a sick mother who cannot work. You have no idea what it is like to have two jobs after school to even be able to have food on the table. You have no idea what it is like to look exactly like your older brothers and have all their expectations, all their achievements hanging over you, putting pressure on you and forcing you to be better than all of them combined."

He went quiet, still staring Sam directly in the eyes; still not showing a single emotion. Sam felt her anger subside slowly, her shoulders went down and her body relaxed, her eyes went wide and she blinked away her tears. Was he telling the truth? Could she trust her black-mailer? She turned around and saw Zach's shocked face, and Duncan's − just as emotionless as Kurou.

"Is this true?" she asked. Her voice sounded small.

"It is." Duncan simply said. Sam opened her mouth and began to turn around, but Duncan interrupted her. "But I had no idea it was that bad." he looked past Sam at Kurou, his voice starting to build up volume again. "I really didn't know. Why didn't you tell me? We were friends, I could've helped you! _We_ could've helped you, my family is…" He drew in a sharp breath but then went quiet again. … _'Richer than yours.' _they all finished that sentence in their own minds. But that wasn't good enough for Kurou.

"What? Your family is _what_?" he asked furiously, his hand went up to his chin again as if it hurt when he spoke. It probably did. "Did it ever occur to you that I do not want your help? I do not want anyone's help! Everyone thinks I am too proud or scared to ask for help, but I am not, I can ask for help if I want to but I_ do not._"

"Why the hell not?" Duncan shouted, stepping forward again. Zach made a move to stop him, but Sam held him back. It felt as if both Kurou and Duncan had been holding things in for quite some time now, and it was probably better if _they_ could blow off some steam before moving on with her own problem. She'd realized it wasn't just all about her anymore.

Kurou stood up, him and Duncan now dangerously close to each other − their fists clenched, their eyes glistening and their teeth gritted.

"I want to be able to do things by myself! I want to become successful by myself, not thanks to my brothers or friends or anyone!"

"You _can't!_" Duncan screamed right into Kurou's face. For the first time, Kurou actually flinched and widened his eyes slightly in surprise. He pulled away a few inches and opened his mouth to say something, but Duncan was faster. "You can't do anything without your friends. You can't become famous or great; you can't even grow up without them. Your friends constantly challenge you, they push you to become better, they support you and back you up and cheer you on even after you've been defeated." He straightened up and watched Kurou with a soft expression on his face; Kurou, however, hid his eyes behind his dark hair. "If you don't know what that's like… I feel sorry for you."

"Do not dare feel sorry for me." Kurou snapped his head back up and glared at Duncan with hatred in his eyes. "I chose this path by my own free will. _I chose it_."

"_Fine_." Duncan spat. "But you didn't have to drag Sam into all of this."

"I still like you. We are still friends. If I had leverage on anyone else, I would not have picked Sam." he turned to Sam, looking at her from top to toe before locking his eyes with hers. "Do you know how disgusting it is? It is wrong."

"We're not friends. Not anymore." Duncan said and took a step forward, almost standing in between Sam and Kurou. "And what the hell is so disgusting about that? You're not making sense."

"It is simply wrong − that is not the way we were created and that is not the way nature intended us to be. A man should be with a woman and a woman should be with a man."

"What… are you talking about?" Sam wondered, a bad, ominous feeling bubbling up inside her. Something was off here and she couldn't figure out what it was.

"Homosexuality is _wrong_."

They stared at him in disbelief.

* * *

"_It's a lot harder than I thought… trying to stay away from you." Loah said and brushed a strand of hair away from Sam's eyes. _

_She gulped and tried to ignore her heart fluttering in her chest. Then Loah subtlety leaned forward and Sam turned her head up, her eyes dreamily half-lidded and her mouth a little open. She lifted her arms − shaking slightly − and loosely placed her hands on Loah's hips. He turned his head so their noses wouldn't' bump into each other and came even closer. His breath ran along Sam's lips, making them tingle and her entire body tremble._

_A sudden thud made the both of them jump. Sam quickly pushed Loah away from herself and at the same time grabbed her bag. They looked around to see who or what had made the noise, but there were no one there._

_

* * *

_

Sam's jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock as she realized what Kurou meant. He'd seen her and Loah in the hallway that day! But he hadn't interpreted it as if she was a girl, but as if she was gay! She felt a wave of overwhelming relief crash over her, almost making her eyes well over with tears. Her heart soared and her stomach felt as if it was going to fly away − she was going to make it! She was totally, definitely, positively going to −

Zach suddenly coughed. "Imsorrywhat?" he blurted out.

"He's homosexual." Kurou nodded towards Sam with a displeased grimace on his face. "And it is wrong. You should be thanking me, I am doing you a favour. Surely your family would not be pleased with this? What would happen if they found out?" he smirked slightly, but then drew in a sharp breath as Duncan grabbed him by the collar, dragged him around and shoved his back into the wall with a low thud.

"Don't you dare threaten Sam in front of me!" Zach coughed lightly in the background again. "In front of _us!_"

"Well, what are you going to do about it? I'm the highest ranked Slifer Red, I am one duel away from advancing to Ra Yellow, and you will not be able to touch me once I am there."

"Then that's one duel you'll _lose_."

"Are you challenging me?" Kurou sounded genuinely surprised, but then his cocky smile returned. "Do you seriously think you can take me on? The best in Slifer Red."

"If you're so damn good, what the hell are you doing in Red?"

Kurou didn't reply, but growled under his breath and discreetly tried to wriggle free from Duncan's grip, but he held him firmly. After a few moments of nothing changing, Sam took a step forward and gently pulled Duncan back, making him let go of Kurou's jacket. He trembled slightly as his feet touched the floor again, but then stood up straight and brushed off his clothes.

"Come on, Duncan. Back off a bit." Duncan willingly did as she said, but still shot glares at Kurou, who answered them with equal hatred. Sam looked from Zach, to Duncan, to Kurou. "Fighting like this isn't going to fix anything. Do you remember what they made us promise on our first day here? 'To resolve all conflicts by duelling'."

"That's what I said, I−"

"Duncan, I know you've been hurt and disappointed by this as well, but I'm not going to let you fight my battle." Sam stood up straight, looked Kurou right in his eyes and lifted her chin up high. "I challenge you to a duel!"


	15. Sam vs Kurou

**A/N:** Right now, one part of me is like "It's time to duel, sucka'! Can youuu dig it?" while the other part is like "Oh God here we go, get ready for a long drawn out children's card game."

* * *

A strong wind blew through the duel field they had chosen; the backside of the Slifer Red dorm, shielded from unwelcome students and teachers; here they could battle on their own without anyone interfering. The weather wasn't good though; it was windy and cloudy, and the sky looked as if it would start to rain at any moment.

"I'll go first!" Sam said and activated her Duel Disk.

A bit behind her stood Zach and Duncan; the first looking shocked and worried, the other glaring at Kurou with hatred in his eyes. Kurou stood a good 20 feet away from Sam, with his Duel Disk up but not meeting her eyes − looking at Duncan the entire time.

"Draw!" she drew five cards, and then another one. She looked at her cards for a moment before deciding her strategy. "I summon Harpie Lady in defense mode!" Harpie Lady appeared on the field with a scream and then sank back down in DEF mode. "And I set a card to end my turn."

"My turn." Kurou said and violently drew a card. "I summon a monster in face down defense position!" a face down card appeared on Kurou's side of the field. "I end my turn."

"He didn't even set a card! What's he up to?" Zach asked Duncan suspiciously, but Duncan didn't reply.

"My turn!" Sam said and drew another card, which turned out to be one of her favorites − the one she had gotten from Banner when she saved Pharaoh. She put it in her hand to save it for later. "I summon Fire Bird in defense mode!" A flaming bird resembling a Phoenix appeared in a burst of flames. "And now I switch Harpie Lady to attack mode. Battle! Attack his face down card!"

Harpie Lady shot over the field to attack Kurou's face down card, but it was no good. The defense points of Kurou's monster were higher than Harpie Lady's attack points, so none of them took damage.

"Hmpf." Sam blew out an annoyed breath. "I activate the continuous spell card Card Trader!" Said card appeared on the field; the picture on it resembling a man in a mask grinning wickedly. "Once per turn during my Standby Phase, I can shuffle a card from my hand into my deck and draw a new one!"

"That card will do you no good this turn. I flip summon Worm Rakuyeh, and now; battle!" Worm Rakuyeh, a hideous worm-like monster appeared and immediately attacked Harpie Lady, who didn't stand a chance against it. Sam's life points went down to 3100, while Kurou's remained at 4000.

"Aw, man. Sam took the first hit, this can't be good." Zach said and looked worried, but Duncan still didn't reply.

"Thanks to Fire Bird's effect − every time a Winged Beast-type monster is destroyed, it gains 500 attack points!" Sam shouted while Fire Bird increased in size, its attack points going up to 1500.

"I set a card, and Worm Rakuyeh's effect allows it to go back to face down defense position at the end of the Battle phase."

"Alright, fine… draw! I activate my spell card Card Trader!" Sam shuffled Owl of Luck, which she'd just drawn, back into her deck and drew another one instead. She smiled wickedly as she saw what she got. "I activate the field spell Mountain! All Winged Beast-type monsters gains 200 attack points!"

The setting around them started changing; the wind grew harder and stronger and high, cold and unfriendly mountains appeared around the field. Sam stood up straight, closed her eyes and smiled as she felt the wind ruffle her hair.

"And now I summon my favorite monster − Harpie's Brother in attack mode! Battle − Fire Bird, attack his face down Worm Rakuyeh!"

Fire Bird flew across the field and attacked Worm Rakuyeh while Harpie's Brother appeared on Sam's side of the field. Worm Rakuyeh disappeared in a cloud of dust along with a boom, and Kurou held up his arm to shield himself from the blast.

"Harpie's Brother, direct attack!" Sam shouted with a victorious grin and pointed at Kurou, who didn't even flinch. Harpie's Brother readied his fangs and attacked Kurou; his long claws cutting right into his chest. Or at least that's what it looked like, thanks to the Solid Vision.

Kurou's life points dropped down to 2000, while Sam's was still at 3100. Kurou growled under his breath but immediately raised his Duel Disk again.

"I activate the spell card Worm Call! This allows me to special summon a level four or lower Worm in face down defense position, which I now sacrifice to be able to tribute summon Worm Prince!"

Worm Prince appeared, a horrible, almost swamp-monster like beast with long claws and horns. It roared out loud and showed off its muscles. Zach flinched.

"That thing is nasty…! Why would you want to duel with giant worms…?"

"Attack Fire Bird!" Kurou shouted and Worm Prince set off. It attacked Fire Bird with its long claws, and the phoenix disappeared in a burst of flames, screeching in sorrow. Sam looked at her life point meter and saw she was lying at 2600, while Kurou's was at 2000. "Worm Prince's special ability activates, which allows me to draw a card when it destroys one of my opponent's monsters." Kurou continued and drew a card. He looked at it for a split second before holding it up. "And now I activate Cup of Ace!"

A giant coin appeared on the middle of the field for a second before it flew high up in the air and then came down again, landing on the side and spinning round and round.

"If it is heads, I draw two cards. If it is tails, you draw." Kurou explained and smile slightly − but it wasn't a friendly smile.

"Come on… come on…" Zach pleaded somewhere in the background. Sam paid no attention to him, but in her head, she prayed for the same thing.

The coin eventually fell over, and of course… landed on heads.

"No…!" Zach made a grimace.

"I draw!" Kurou drew two cards, but looked at them in dismay, apparently not getting the card he wanted. "Worm Prince is destroyed during the End Phase thanks to its effect."

"My turn, draw!" Sam said but didn't bother to do anything before entering the Battle Phase. "Harpie's Brother, direct attack Kurou!"

Harpie's Brother grinned as Sam did and dashed over the field to attack Kurou. Yet again, its claws sunk deep into his chest, and Kurou let out a grunt of pain and annoyance. The extra boost from the field spell Mountain was enough to give Harpie's Brother that final attack point which defeated Kurou. He sunk down to the ground as his life point meter dropped to 0 with a sad little bleep.

The mountains around the field disappeared, as did Harpie's Brother, but not until after he'd given Sam a small wink. She couldn't help but blush − he had been her card crush for as long as she could remember. But then she pulled herself together and walked over to Kurou with Zach and Duncan following her.

Kurou was sitting perfectly still on the ground, his arms by his side and his face hidden underneath black spiky hair. He didn't even flinch as Sam knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kurou… are you alright?"

"Come on, Sam. Who cares? Just leave him here." Zach said and looked away in distaste.

Sam opened her mouth to say something but closed it again after a few moments. She searched Kurou's face for something − some kind of emotion. If she had seen something, _anything_, she might have been able to feel sorry for him. But now, she couldn't bring herself to comfort her opponent, the person who had been black-mailing her for the last couple of weeks and made her life a living hell. She stood up again, looking at Kurou for a final time before turning around and starting to walk away.

"Duncan, what are you doing?" she heard Zach's voice behind her and immediately twirled around again, afraid Duncan might harm Kurou. But Duncan had just knelt down next to him, just like Sam had a moment ago. He nudged at Kurou rather violently, but actually managed to get his attention; Kurou looked up at him with a blank expression.

"Hey! Don't you dare do something like this aga−"

"What the hell… you were supposed to be on my side. We are friends." Kurou said, his voice hoarse and nothing but a whisper.

"We _were_ friends." Duncan corrected him, obviously mad he had been interrupted. "And guess what?" he leaned forward and whispered something into Kurou's ear, his voice so low neither Zach nor Sam heard what he said.

Kurou's eyes widened in shock. Duncan patted him on his shoulder with a bitter smile on his face and then stood up, leading the way back to their dorm. Sam and Zach exchanged worried looks, but didn't dare to ask what he had said.

* * *

The following morning the mood was low in the Slifer Red dining room as they ate breakfast. No one really spoke and if they did it was in a low voice. They all moved slowly, afraid to make sudden movements or sounds. Even Jaden and his little gang were quiet, even though they didn't know why.

Kurou's seat was empty, and Professor Banner informed them he had been expelled due to private reasons. No one asked what the 'private reasons' were; they didn't dare to.

Sam and Zach exchanged looks yet again; they hadn't told anyone about what happened. They had agreed not to, and give Kurou a second chance even though he didn't really deserve one. Then they looked at Duncan, who met their worried eyes and refused to look away, and understood.

* * *

**A/N:** Okaaaay, first duel I have ever written! Yeah, you didn't read it at all, did you? I know I usually don't read duels xD Anywho, it was good practice (I know there's like a bajillion wrongs but I'm laaaazy) since I'm planning on writing at least _one more _duel. Brace yourself.

Now, here's a interesting story, I thought you might like this... I was in a toy store the other day (don't ask me what I was doing there) and I actually found some YGO cards! I was so happy 'cause I didn't think they still sold them here in Sweden. They were all 5Ds cards, but naturally I bought some anyways and actually got a lot of Worms - like the ones Kurou use! What could this mean?


	16. The School Duel pt 1

**A/N:** God I love that opening line:

* * *

"Settle down, people, attention please. Chumley, stop chewing with your mouth open!"

Sam, Duncan and Zach along with the rest of the Slifer, Obelisk and Ra students stood in the biggest classroom, the one where they had all met for the first time and gotten an introduction to Duel Academy. On the giant big screen in front of them were a live recording of the Chancellor, and by two tables on each side of the screen stood the headmasters for each dorm. Of course, the Slifers, Ras and Obelisks stood in their separate groups, but Roxanne had moved over so she stood close enough to the Reds to be able to speak to Sam and the gang.

"What do you think this meeting is all about?" she asked in a whisper, leaning closer. "And who's that guy?" she nodded towards the newest student in the Slifer dorm; a small and shy boy who stood close to Jaden and Syrus, but paid no attention to them.

"Huh? Oh, that's Blair Flannigan. He's a new student here, but he won't be staying with us for long. I heard he's moving up to Obelisk within a week." Zach replied and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Oh, come on. He's probably not that bad." Duncan said and nudged at Zach to get his attention. "He seems like an okay guy."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Besides, if we befriend him now, when he moves up to Obelisk we can get free lobster!"

The others rolled their eyes at his comment but knew it was true and quietly hoped for the same. Sam kept quiet, actually biting her tongue not to say anything. Of course she knew Blair's secret! She was a, well… _she_. The first time Sam saw her − the evening before, in the Slifer dining room − she realized something was off. It didn't take her long to figure out Blair was a girl, but she kept quiet about it. Just like Sam had her reasons to remain a guy, Blair probably had her own reasons.

Sam planned to talk to her eventually, but the guys were always around and it was hard to get some privacy at an over-crowded dorm. She suddenly blinked as she realized she hadn't been paying attention to the Chancellor, and he was in the middle of a speech.

"… the big match up against our rival school North Academy is coming up." he said. "Last year, Zane − our student ref***** − whooped them good! This year, I want to win the school duel again! Now, we still haven't decided on who's going to represent us this year, so if you keep hitting those books and dueling hard, you may be the one who get's the honor!"

The screen flickered off and all the students immediately started chatting amongst themselves. Roxanne turned to the gang with a slightly disgusted grimace on her face.

"I hate competing."

"You _what?_" Zach said with disbelief in his voice. "Then what are you even doing here anyway, you're supposed to learn how to _win_ a Duel Monsters duel!"

"All my friends and my boyfriend are here! Ex-boyfriend." She corrected herself and looked a bit sad.

"Did he brake up with you?" Sam wondered, concerned. She'd known Roxanne had a boyfriend, even though she'd never actually met him or even knew his name.

"No, I broke up with him. I heard he was actually in love with Alexis Rhodes." The gang all turned their heads to see the Obelisk Blue girl cheerfully talking to Jaden. "Tell you what, she is _so_ in love with him and he doesn't even get it. Serves her right, trying to steal my boyfriend." she mumbled, crossing her arms.

Sam avoided replying; sensing that starting a discussion about whose fault it really was wasn't the best idea right now. Instead she focused on the information they had just gotten.

"So, anyone up for dueling against the best from North Academy?"

"Ugh, so not me." Roxanne immediately replied.

"I think Duncan should give it a try." Zach said with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah, I think so too! You're totally good enough, Duncan!" Sam said as the whole crowd started moving towards the doors after receiving a sign from the teachers that it was okay.

"Uh, thanks but no thanks." Duncan said exhaustedly. "What if I lose?"

"What if you _win?_" Zach corrected him, all of them smiling together.

* * *

The days at Duel Academy moved fast. It was spring and it was rapidly becoming hotter and hotter. They often sat outside and studied, and Zach even took a bath in the ocean a particular hot Sunday afternoon. The look on his face as he touched the water (he had decided to _jump _in) was priceless, and he got a cold afterwards, but he said it was worth it.

Sam and her little gang were all busy with homework and tests, both written and field tests. Sam felt how both she and the others became stronger and more skilled duelists, but she doubted any of them would move up to Ra anytime soon. If anyone would it would be Duncan, who after Kurou disappeared, was the best in Slifer Red. Sure, Jaden were extremely skilled at the field tests but mostly slept through the written exams, plus there was a rumor going around that he actually didn't want to move up.

Blair Flannigan disappeared as fast as she had come, without Sam getting time to talk to her, and Jaden eventually became the representative for Duel Academy after winning over Bastion Misawa in a duel. Even though he seemed a bit nervous about it everyone knew he was going to win, no matter who his opponent was.

The day of the school duel drew close and the day before it everyone gathered at the docks to meet the students from their rival school. They arrived by a submarine, to everyone's surprise. The Chancellor of North Academy, a bald and fat man named Foster, went across the gangway to shake hands with Chancellor Sheppard, while his students remained on the roof of the sub.

"What are they saying?" Zach hissed into Sam's ear, obviously irritated he couldn't see anything; the Slifer Reds had to stand furthest away from the edge of the dock, behind all of the Ras and Obelisks. Sam made a grimace.

"Well, I can't hear anything if you keep blabbering in my ear!" she snapped and craned her neck, trying to see something other than the back of people's heads.

"I think I can see Jaden's opponent, he's standing in the middle of all the others from Northern Academy." Roxanne said and squinted with her eyes. She was sitting on top of Duncan's shoulders, looking out over the crowd. Duncan was obviously not happy, but kept quiet. "But he looks damn familiar."

"Really? Maybe he's famous, let me see." Zach said and was about to drag Roxanne down from Duncan's shoulders and climb up himself when Roxanne gasped.

"No, I know who he is! He's from Duel Academy!" she climbed off Duncan − who rubbed his aching back − and violently gestured with her arms as she spoke. "It the guy Jaden defeated a really long time ago!"

"Uh, which one of them?"

"Chazz Princeton!"

Just as she had said that they were all almost blown away by a strong gust wind. They all looked up to see two large choppers landing on top of the storage house near the docks.

"Hi Chazz!" one of the men in the choppers shouted over the wind.

"What's going on, little brother?" the other one asked.

Sam looked from the two men to Chazz Princeton, who had a look of utter disgust on his face. They were all alike, and obviously brothers, but Sam didn't think they looked very pleasant either one of them. They all had the same expression of greed and hatred across their faces, and the same dark eyes.

"Who _are_ these guys?" she asked with a loud voice, to even manage to be heard over the roaring wind.

"They're the Princeton family! They're dominating large areas of the economical and political market, and I guess with Chazz's help they'll take over the world of Duel Monsters as well!" Roxanne said and took away her hands from her face as the choppers' engines were turned off and the wind lessened. "They practically ruined one of my friend's family." she looked at them with pure hatred in her eyes.

Sam looked up at the choppers standing on the roof and decided she didn't like the Princeton family. As they got out from the choppers, a film team showed up out of nowhere and started shooting, just like that. They spread out over the docks and filmed everyone and everything, but focused on the Princeton brothers.

"Okay seriously, what the _crap?_ What is going on?" Zach yelled as one of the film team members tried to get a close-up on his face.

"Uh, I think they're going to broadcast the school duel over the entire world." Sam said and ducked behind Roxanne, who pranced about in front of the cameras, happy about the attention. A lot of the other girls did the same thing, while the boys shoved and punched each other and tried to look cool.

"Alright, that's it!" Duncan shouted and shoved a couple of cameras away. "I'm leaving, _now!_" and with that, he stormed off, leaving Sam and the others to follow him, half-running.

"Whaa−?" Zach shouted and tried to drag Roxanne away from the cameras. "Duncan, wait! Are you still mad you didn't get picked as the school representative?"

Duncan didn't answer as he quickly walked across the school campus. There were practically no one around but they could all still hear the commotion from the docks.

"Duncan, wait! Wai− aargh!" Sam yelled as she tripped over something and fell, landing painfully on the ground. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked back at whatever it was that had tripped her.

"Sam, are you okay?" Zach wondered, he and Roxanne stopped a bit further ahead, but Duncan continued walking towards the main building. He probably hadn't heard Sam fell.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sam said and blushed slightly, realizing what had tripped her. "It's just my shoelaces."

Zach gave her a quick nod and then started following Duncan again, still dragging Roxanne with him. Sam could hear them disappear towards the school while Zach continued shouting at Duncan to stop, which he obviously didn't. She sighed as she tied her shoelaces − double-knots this time − and then stood up again. Her friends were just entering the main building through the front doors, leaving her all alone.

"Unbelievable…" she muttered and started jogging towards the school. When she got there she entered through the big doors just like Duncan and the others had, but there was no one in sight. "Zach!" Sam yelled down the empty corridor. "Duncan?"

She sighed yet again and took off to the right, following the corridor until she came to an intersection, where she had to choose if she wanted to go to the left or follow the hallway straight ahead. She took the left turn and began wandering aimlessly around the first floor of the school.

After a while, she stopped worrying about Duncan − the others would take care of him, if he _was_ upset − and began to enjoy being alone for once. Usually, the hallways were bustling with activity or she was constantly surrounded by her blabbering friends… some peace and quiet was nice for a change.

Sam closed her eyes and took a deep breath just as she rounded a corner… and bumped right into someone. Her eyes shot wide open and she almost fell backwards when whoever it was grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up straight. She blinked and looked at him.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" she wondered, frowning. She didn't mean to sound rude, but the boy in front of her had the Northern Academy uniform consisting of a grey jacket with a logo on the chest. He looked surprised and immediately let go of her arm. Sam looked at him again; he was a bit taller than her, had long black hair in a loose ponytail and sharp grey eyes − he looked familiar somehow.

"I was just… looking around."

"Sure you were." Sam said and crossed her arms. "I'm fairly sure students from our rival school can't just wander around as they please. What's your name?"

"Hachiro Yukimura." he replied with a smug smile. "You know, when asking for someone's name, it's rather polite to give up your own name."

"Sam Marshall." Sam snapped shortly and began to think about what she was supposed to do with the intruder. Taking him to the Chancellor was probably the best idea, but who knew where he was now, preparing for the duel? If she could just find some teacher…

"I know who you are."

Sam blinked and focused on Hachiro, who smiled that annoying smile again.

"Eh, whatnow?" she wondered, completely caught off guard. Hachiro leaned close and whispered into her ear;

"You're the reason my little brother got kicked out of school."

* * *

**A/N: GASP GASP GASP!** I know, I know, you thought you were done with the whole Kurou story, right? Well, so did I, but it seems he just won't leave my brain just yet. *tries to push him out and is stopped by Hachiro* Uhh...

*****I honestly have **NO IDEA** if that is what he's saying, and if it is, what he means by it. lol.


	17. The School Duel pt 2

**A/N:** God, it feels like forever since I last updated this story. WoO was really taking up a lot of time, and I've hardly written anything on 'Life at DA'. I feel horrible, gah.

* * *

"… right Sam?"

"Absolutely!" Sam happily agreed but immediately sunk back into her worried state. _Oh dear Spirits, what did I just agree to?_ She hadn't been paying attention at all, but it couldn't have been that important since her friends just continued talking around her. They didn't seem to notice she was troubled, which would have disturbed her if, well… she wasn't so troubled.

The meeting she'd had with Hachiro Yukimura earlier that day had been _incredibly_ awkward, but definitely not for the reason she had first thought it would be.

* * *

"You're the reason my little brother got kicked out of school."

Sam simply stared at the older, black-haired teen with her mouth hanging open. A million questions and trumped-up excuses went through her head until she finally picked the most obvious one, not being able to think straight.

"You're… Kurou's older brother?"

"Well, obviously. I even know _why_ you're the reason." she shook his head but smiled slightly at the same time. "He's such a homophobic little bugger; I hope you weren't offended by him."

"N-no, I…"

"Good because, you know…" Hachiro said with a low voice and a smirk and leaned even nearer. "I could go either way."

Sam's eyes widened in shock as she realized what he'd meant. Then she furiously blushed and started staggering backwards, only to be stopped by the wall. Hachiro seemed to find her reaction amusing and got even closer, leaning on one hand close to her head and the other sunk deep into his pocket.

"N-no, you don't understand, I−" Sam stuttered, face tomato red, quietly wishing someone would come along and save her. Preferably Loah Jackson, but even Crowler would do in this situation. She gasped as Hachiro pulled his hand out of his pocket and rested it on her cheek, slowly moving his thumb across her skin.

"Come now, don't be like that…" he murmured and leaned close. "I know what this school is like, I know what its students are like… But I wanted to see it for myself, that's the only reason I followed _The_ Chazz here." a mocking tone seeped into his voice but disappeared quickly again. "So come on, let me enjoy my short stay here."

Sam's breathing was fast and shallow, yet she couldn't move. As much as she wanted to just turn around and run away as fast as she could, something was preventing her from doing that − something she didn't want to admit to herself. Hachiro's hand travelled down from her cheek, her neck and down on her…

"Huh? What's this?" Hachiro said stupidly and pressed down hard on Sam's chest.

Sam's eyes widened (it hurt!) and she gave up a shriek. She reacted out of sheer reflex and the next thing she knew, she bitch-slapped Hachiro right on his cheek, leaving a painful red mark.

Hachiro looked so surprised he didn't even seem to realize he was hurt, which gave Sam the perfect opportunity to escape. She tore herself away from Hachiro and dashed around the corner, running the same way back as she'd come. She didn't come far though, because even if Hachiro had been surprised he had longer legs and ran faster.

He came up to her from behind, and grabbed her by the wrist, forcing her to stop. Sam turned around and tried to get loose, squirming and twisting to make Hachiro let go, but without luck. She grunted as she tried to get him off her, but other than that they were both completely quiet.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Hachiro grabbed her other wrist as well, making her stop and look him in the eyes, shaking her slightly. "Hey! Stop that!"

Sam stood still, but her fists were clenched and angry tears burned at the corners of her eyes.

"Good. Now, if I let go, will you promise not to run away again?" she didn't respond, only stared at him with hatred in her eyes. "Alright, fine." he didn't let go, but instead he slid his hands down so he was holding her hands, rather than her wrists. "Okay, this is obviously just a big misunderstanding. If you tell everyone what happened, Kurou can join this school again!"

Hachiro looked at her with sincerity in his grey eyes, and Sam couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. He was so different all of a sudden − his voice and manners and even his facial expressions − it was as if he had one set of manners for boys and another for girls. Just as she'd thought that, she realized what it meant and made a disgusted grimace.

"No but, you don't understand!" she managed to hiss through gritted teeth. She felt like stomping her foot in the ground to get her message across, and that was something she hadn't done since she was seven. Hot, angry tears started to well up in her eyes again.

"Then tell me." Hachiro simply said.

Sam stared at him.

Then she started talking.

They sunk down against the wall in the corridor and watched the clouds float by outside the windows as Sam told Hachiro nothing short of everything; she told him about the entrance exams and Loah Jackson, she told him about her first meeting with Chumley, Jaden and Syrus and how mad she had been, she told him about Duncan and Zach and their first day in school.

Then she told him about how much she missed her father and how much she knew he missed her, even though he didn't want to admit it in the letters he sent to her. She told him why she didn't want people to find out she was a girl and what she'd done in order to prevent that.

Sam told him about the meeting she'd had with Loah where they decided that they weren't supposed to meet again, even though she really really really wanted to − and she was so not in love with him! She told Hachiro about the time Zach threw her in the water and Duncan found out she was a girl. She told him about Roxanne, who had stolen her first kiss. She told him about the black-mailing Kurou had done, and that she had to tell Zach that she was a girl. She told him about the hard time they had trying to figure out who it was; she told him about her meeting with Loah in the hallway and that Kurou had been there, eavesdropping but misunderstanding.

She told him about the time they managed to figure out who her black-mailer was, and her duel against Kurou, and that she had won even though she was sure she would loose.

Hachiro sat next to her, completely silent and just let her talk. He laughed slightly when she told him about Roxanne and the kiss, and held her in his arms when she cried over her father, but never said a word.

When Sam stopped talking he still didn't say anything, simply looked at the sky outside the windows. It took a while before Sam managed to find her voice again, but when she did, she said;

"Thank you."

This was the only thing so far she'd said which actually seemed to surprise Hachiro. He blinked and looked at her as she smiled towards him.

"But I just −" he went silent. Then, completely sincere and serious: "You're welcome."

Then he stood up, brushed off his clothes and reached out his hand for Sam. She looked at it in confusion but took it, and he pulled her up on her feet. With a last smile towards her, he turned around and started walking away.

Sam simply stared after him in confusion. Then she blinked and shouted:

"Wait!"

Hachiro stopped and turned around to face her, still smiling.

"What− I-I mean, where…" Sam stuttered. "B-but what if… you're not, I mean… Are you just going to _leave?_" she finally managed to say.

"Yeah?" he said with a shrug.

"B-but you know my secret!"

"Relax, I won't tell anyone." Hachiro simply said and walked away, and then he was suddenly gone.

* * *

**A/N:** ... and this chapter is shorter. Well, at least I sort of know what's going to happen in the next chappie, so I just have to actually write it. (Hahaha... ha.)


	18. The School Duel pt 3

Sam bit her lip.

It was in the middle of the school duel between Duel Academy and Northern Academy; between Jaden and Chazz Princeton. Chazz definitely had the upper hand, with 3600 life points, while Jaden only had 1600; the students from NA were cheering Chazz on like crazy, and you could tell it worked. Jaden was beginning to look nervous and set a card before ending his turn. He had Tempest on his field, while Chazz had Armed Dragon LV5.

There were cameras filming the duel from every side, and the audience too, but somehow, they only seemed to film the good-looking Obelisk girls and boys.

Sam, Zach, Duncan and Roxanne sat together at the furthest back of the audience, trying to see something over the sea of heads. It was just as usual; the Slifer Reds always had to sit at the back, always got the worst food, always got the most homework. Roxanne had practically ditched her entire dorm by now; ever since she broke up with her boyfriend, she didn't want to spend time at the Ra Yellow dorm and even slept at the Red dorm; some nights in Sam's room, and sometimes in Duncan and Zach's room.

From the point where Sam was sitting, she could see Hachiro Yukimura across the whole duel arena, sitting with his fellow Northern Academy students, but he was one of the few who didn't cheer whenever Chazz made a nice move. When Sam had met Hachiro the day before, he had clearly expressed his dislike for the black-haired duelist, so Sam was hardly surprised. Hachiro suddenly looked her way and smiled at her with a slight nod, which Sam only hoped no one else noticed.

Sam could also see Loah Jackson sitting a bit to her left, but still far enough away for her to be able to see him in the eyes. And that's what she did. Loah had hardly taken his green eyes off her since the duel first started, which made Sam incredibly uncomfortable and fluffy on the inside at the same time.

She was confused, to say the least. She was also fairly sure Hachiro hadn't told anyone her secret – if he had, she probably would've known about it by now. But _would_ he tell anyone? What was she thinking, spilling out all her secrets to the brother of the guy who wanted to get her expelled? Although… she had to admit telling someone all her secrets like that − some of the things she told him were things not even her father or Duncan knew about – had been really nice. It had gotten a load off her mind, and it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

But now, of course, she had new problems to worry about. Also, the fact that Roxanne still didn't know she was a girl was bugging her. Sam had become really close friends with Roxanne, and felt bad about lying to her; plus it would make things a whole lot easier if she actually had a _girl_ to discuss things with.

Suddenly, Sam noticed Hachiro leaning close to one of his friend and whispering something into his ear. The guy nodded, and Hachiro stood up and walked away – with some difficulty though, since the rest of the students were jumping around and cheering, blocking the way.

"Um, I just have to go to the bathroom for a sec." Sam said just as Jaden summoned Winged Kuriboh, making the girls in the audience squee.

"Huh? Sam, are you alright?" Duncan asked, but Sam was already gone. She went down the stairs and out through the big gates which led from the duel arena to a deserted hallway. Everyone was watching the duel, even the teachers. In the corner of her eye, Sam saw a person turning around a corner and disappearing, and she quickly followed him.

Yet again she almost bumped into Hachiro, who had stopped right around the corner. He grabbed her wrist to prevent her from falling over, but she quickly regained her balance and glared at him.

"We really got to stop meeting like this." he smirked. She frowned even more and jerked back her hand.

"You haven't told anyone, have you?"

"Nope." Hachiro replied, still smiling. "I didn't think you wanted me to."

"I don't."

"Alright." Hachiro said, and when Sam didn't say anything for a while and simply stared at him instead, he continued. "Is there something else I can help you with, or…?" he shrugged slightly and raised his eyebrows.

"… Why are you even wandering around the corridors while everyone else is at the duel?" Sam wondered when she couldn't think of anything else to say. Why couldn't she just leave? Something was preventing her, but she couldn't figure out what.

"I was just going to the bathroom." he said vaguely, not smiling anymore.

"And I suppose that's what you were doing last time I found you like this too?"

He simply looked at her. It wasn't a stare or a glare – even though his brow was slightly furrowed, and he wasn't smiling. His jaws were shut tight though. It was as if he was thinking about what to do with her – weather to lie or tell the truth, weather to drop the act or continue smiling and goofing around.

Finally, he let out a breath and looked away, rubbing his neck while staring at the floor. Then he raised his head and looked at Sam again, his expression more soft this time. She raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I'm meeting someone, okay?"

Sam blinked. It wasn't exactly what she had expected, but alright.

"Who?" she thought for a second, then added. "You mean like a date or something?"

"Yeah, like a date or something." he mimicked her, but with a smile. "You probably don't know him; he's a Ra."

"I know some Ras." then she blinked. "_Him?_"

Hachiro laughed for the first time. It was surprised rather than mocking.

"Yeah well, I don't think you know _this_ _guy_. Now, will you let me go or do I have to touch your boobs again to make you run away?"

Sam blushed a deep shade of red at the memory and began to stutter.

"T-that w-was really… y-you know, you never apologized for that."

"What's there to apologize about?" Hachiro said with a chuckle. But then he got serious. "I'm sorry. Kinda. But you know, technically it was an accident."

"I guess." Sam pouted. "Alright, fine. You can go. I hope he's worth it."

"Worth missing _The_ Chazz? Please." he smiled and raised his hand as a good-bye, then he turned around and started walking away, leaving Sam by herself.

* * *

"Sam? Where were you?" Duncan asked as Sam dropped back down on her seat. Sam simply shook her head and looked out over the duel arena.

Jaden had just attacked Armed Dragon LV7 with his Flame Wingman, and thanks to the latter's special ability, Chazz took damage equal to his destroyed monster's attack points. His life points dropped to zero and he dropped to his knees with a frustrated scream. The audience went wild, cheering and booing and whistling, all while Chazz's two brothers walked over to him and spoke to him, but it was impossible to hear what they said.

"What did I miss?" Sam asked, concerned. Then the crowd suddenly went silent as one of the brothers picked Chazz up by the collar and held him there, his feet not touching the ground.

"Let him go!" Jaden said, his voice rang throughout the duel arena loud and clear. "Yeah sure he lost, but how could he not with you two jerks breathing down his neck?"

Sam couldn't hear what the Princeton brothers said next − none of them could − but Jaden, backed up by his friends, was clearly against the brothers and what they'd done to Chazz, and even Crowler seemed to be on Jaden's side. Sam and Zach exchanged confused looks as none of them heard what was said, but the brothers suddenly released Chazz.

"… I know it's cheesy, but I think the truth of it is that we both won here." Jaden said loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You're just saying that." Chazz mumbled, but by now it was so quiet in the arena, everyone could still hear it. "I mean, come on. Nobody else believes that."

It was dead silent in the duel arena. Then, one by one, the students started cheering, whistling and applauding. Everyone − both students from Duel Academy and North Academy − stood up like a giant wave, all at once, and yelled:

"Chazz it up! Chazz it up! Chazz it up!"

* * *

Much later, at sunset, the Princeton brothers finally went away with their choppers and their camera teams, and everyone gathered by the docks to say good-bye to the students from Northern Academy. Their submarine was lying close to the concrete dock; the NA students were standing on top of it and the DA students were standing on the dock.

Once again, Sam and the little gang stood way back; they couldn't hear what was being said this time either, but it seemed as if Chazz was going to stay at Duel Academy again. Chancellor Sheppard got a kiss from Dorothy as the prize for winning the school duel, and as Chancellor Foster ran back to the sub, shouting that he'd be back for Ms Dorothy next year, Sam caught something in the corner of her eye.

Hachiro was standing at the roof of the submarine, smiling towards Sam. He raised his hand and did a sort of salute. It could've been directed towards anyone standing at the dock, and a few people actually waved back as the sub began to move away, but Sam smiled, knowing that her secret was safe yet again.

Suddenly, the peace was disturbed as Chazz realized he had to go in the Slifer Red dorm for some time, since he dropped out and came back, and was therefore technically a new student. He shouted on about how he didn't want to live with cockroaches and rats – Sam vaguely hoped he didn't mean the students – and finally turned to the ocean, screaming for the NA students to come back.

The Red students all just laughed it off and cheered for Slifer. Jaden grinned so wildly it looked as if his face was about to split and pulled Chazz close in a tight hug. Said person blushed like crazy and tried to get loose, but it was in vain.

"You know, they're kinda cute together." Duncan said quietly, smiling. Roxanne nodded like a wise old person while Zach's cheeks got a pink tint to them; he was obviously uncomfortable.

Sam smiled too, turning her head towards the setting sun and feeling the warmth against her skin.

* * *

**A/N:** I promise, promise, promise, promise that this is the last part of the Kurou arc! Really!

There's not many chapters left, actually. The whole story with Kurou was... well, basically the main event. I think there's at least three chapters left - five at tops - and then it's over. Done. Finito.


	19. Duel Monsters Spirit Day

**A/N:** Hurray! I've been wanting to write this chapter ever since I first got the whole idea for the story! :D

* * *

It was Duel Monster Spirit Day and there was an excited atmosphere all over Duel Academy.

It was a very welcomed break after all the tests, anxiety, nervousness and everything else that had happened lately. And it hardly helped that rumors were going around all over the school about Jaden and his little gang, who now were more than before, after Alexis Rhodes' brother Atticus had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. No one knew for sure why or where he had come from, except for Jaden and the others, who kept it to themselves.

There were also whispers about evil duelists, duels in other dimensions and duelists _from_ other dimensions, and a talk about some sort of Keys, guarding something very valuable or dangerous – or both.

Sam, Zach, Duncan and Roxanne all had their own problems and homework to deal with and hardly noticed what was happening outside their own little circle. Nevertheless, it was a great relief when they suddenly got one day to prepare for the Spirit Day, and one day for the actual fest.

Sam was currently in her dorm room, trying out her costume and making some last minute tweaks to make it fit perfectly. She'd done it herself, and she was extremely proud over that. It was a costume resembling Harpie Girl, one of her favorite monsters. She had heard Alexis Rhodes and two of her friends were going as the Harpie Sisters, and was a little bummed over the fact that she wasn't as original as she thought.

_But oh well_, Sam thought and hummed to herself, sowing on a few loose feathers, at least this way she could hide her face and dress up as a girl for once. Because that had almost been what she looked forward to the most; she had modified the Harpie Girl's costume a bit so she had a mask covering her face, allowing her to look like a girl without anyone knowing it was actually her.

"Sam, are you there? Can we come in?" Zach wondered from the other side of her door.

"Yeah, sure." she replied and put down the wing she was working on as Zach opened the door and came inside, Duncan following him.

"Wow, you're making your costume yourself?" Zach asked when he saw the various needles, threads and bits of fabric scattered out over her entire room. "That's ambitious."

"Well, I like doing it the old fashioned way. And you're buying yours I suppose?"

"Got it right here." Zach grinned and held up a big paper bag. He pulled out his costume and carefully draped it over Sam's bed, allowing her and Duncan to get a good look on it. "It's the Cybernetic Magician. Isn't he cool?" His costume was indeed Cybernetic Magician, with simple, white, almost silvery clothes, gems in different colors as decoration and some sort of wand as a complementary.

"It's… nice, Zach." Sam said and avoided his eyes. "But, eh… don't you think many people will go as him? He _is_ one of the most famous Magicians there is."

"Yeah, I even got him in my deck." Duncan added.

"I know, I know, but I bought it this afternoon and there weren't many costumes left − it was either this or Magician's Valkyria." he let Sam and Duncan laugh for a while before continuing. "Besides, so what if he's popular? Maybe one of the Obelisk girls will mistake me for their boyfriend and dance with me instead."

"D'you even believe that yourself?" Duncan asked. Zach glared at him.

"Alright, alright, don't you guys have anywhere else to be? I have to change into my costume."

"Aww, but come on, Sam, we don't have to go; you can change in front of us! You said it yourself; you're one of the guys, remember?" Zach grinned like a maniac until Duncan grabbed him by the ear and had to drag him outside. "Ow ow ow, let… let go of my ear!"

Sam let out an exhausted breath as she heard them continue down the balcony, but she smiled. Then she closed the door behind them and went to put on her costume.

Harpie Girl had a tight fitting light blue and pink full body suit and since it was so tight, Sam's figure was much more obvious than when she had her too big Slifer Red uniform. Her wings were huge, but Sam had made hers smaller so she could actually wear the costume, and she had made the claws smaller too, so she would actually be able to walk properly and pick things up.

Harpie Girl actually had long blonde hair, but Sam didn't want to waste the little money she had on a wig, but her short red hair was mostly covered by her mask anyway. The mask wasn't a part of the costume, but her father had bought it for her a long time ago, and it worked surprisingly well with the rest of the clothes. It was simple, with girly features in light blue and dark pink, with feathers on one side.

Sam snuck out of her room during Crowler's welcome-speech to make sure no one saw her. All of the students were standing facing the huge stage, with their backs turned towards the Slifer Red dorm. Beyond the stage were several attractions, wheel-of-fortunes, food stands, and a dance floor. As the sun set, lanterns and torches were lit throughout the whole area, bathing everything in a warm, flickering light.

Duncan waved her closer once he managed to find her in the crowd, which scattered everywhere as soon as Crowler's speech ended. He was dressed in a simple black suit with a dark red shirt underneath, and he smiled fondly towards her.

"You look great."

"Thanks." she blushed slightly. "And you can't tell it's really me?"

"Well, since I know it's you… but no, I don't think anyone else will recognize you."

Zach and Roxanne approached, bickering on about something as usual. Zach was wearing his Cybernetic Magician costume, but Roxanne had a knee-long dress in navy blue with golden roses stitched around the edges. As usual, she looked wonderful.

"Oh, who's this?" she wondered as they came closer.

"Oh, um… this is…" Duncan stuttered, caught off guard.

"My name is Samantha." Sam said, not lying. "I'm in Obelisk Blue, but don't worry, I'm not that bad."

"I'm Roxanne Callahan, nice to meet you." Roxanne said with a laugh and then turned towards Duncan with a mischievous smirk. "Duncan, you never told me you had a _lady_ friend in Obelisk."

"Eh, Roxanne… I'm, eh, you know…" he trailed off, gesturing with his hand to make her understand.

"Huh? Oh, right!" she blushed as she remembered. "Which reminds me, we should find you a boyfriend." Roxanne grabbed Duncan by the arm and dragged away with him before he even got a chance to understand what was going on. Zach and Sam looked after them as they disappeared, Duncan blushing and stuttering, and Roxanne ignoring him.

"Sam, is it really you?" Zach said and turned towards Sam.

"Yeah, it's really me."

"Wow, you look great. You don't look like yourself anymore, you look like a girl!"

"Was that supposed to be a compliment? And think twice before you answer." Sam growled. Zach laughed away his mistake, tentatively took Sam's (clawed) hand and led her to the attractions. They went for a few rides on the rollercoaster and grabbed something to eat by the food stands before Roxanne and Duncan appeared again, the latter with a pink tone to his cheeks.

"Hey guys, guess what?" Roxanne said happily. "Duncan got his first kiss!" Sam and Zach's eyes went wide, but Duncan coughed slightly. "Oh yeah, sorry; his first kiss from another _guy_. We found this kissing booth thing where you were randomly paired up with a girl or a boy and then you had to kiss them! It was great; I kissed like three guys and two girls!"

Zach looked like he was about to get a nosebleed, so Sam quickly interrupted.

"Yeah, so who did you kiss, Duncan?"

"Atticus Rhodes… Alexis' brother, you know?"

"Wow, really?" Zach asked, his eyes wide. "But not Alexis?"

"Nah, Atticus tried to force her into joining the whole kissing booth-thing, but she refused. She said something about a duel between Jaden and a girl dressed up as Dark Magician Girl, and then she just went away."

"I didn't think there was a girl dressing up as Dark Magician Girl?" Roxanne said but didn't sound like she really cared.

"Well, apparently." Duncan. "So what do you want to do next?"

"I want to dance!" Roxanne said happily, pointed towards the dance floor and took a few steps in that direction. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Oh dear God, please don't make me." Duncan whined.

"Alright, you're off the hook, but that's just because I managed to get you to the kissing booth. Zach, we're gonna dance."

"Sure!" Zach said, lucky to be able to dance with anyone at this point; while he and Sam hung out he had asked about ten girls if they wanted to be his date – not a single one of them said yes. He took Roxanne's hand and went to the dance floor with her, where they proceeded by doing some weird version of twist.

Sam and Duncan stood near the edge of the floor, looking at the couples dancing. There were a few with costumes – some hand sown and some bought – Sam saw two Dark Magicians, one Etoile Cyber, one Amazoness Blowpiper, someone who looked like a dragon, and a few which she didn't recognize. But then she saw someone she _did_ recognize, and her heart skipped a beat.

It was Harpie's Brother – with a dark red shirt with a high collar, light red wings and claws on one hand, grey pants with red details and a red mask. His hair was long and black, and he moved with grace through the crowd of dancers, heading towards the spot where Sam and Duncan stood.

"May I have this dance?" he asked in a low voice and with a smile grazing his lips, reaching out his hand for Sam. She simply stared at him. Duncan grinned and pushed her forward, making her practically fall into Harpie's Brother's arms.

He grabbed her and pulled her up like it was nothing, holding one of her hands and placing his other on her waist, while she put her hand on his shoulder. He led her out on the dance floor, slowly but beautifully. Sam was afraid she'd step on his feet, but the way he led her made it impossible, even though her knees were feeling weak.

People around them stopped dancing and watched them twirl around the dance floor, making Sam blush, but it didn't show underneath her mask. Harpie's Brother must've felt it somehow anyway, because he chuckled, and as he did, a flash of green was visible underneath his mask.

"Loah?" Sam asked, her voice nothing more than a whisper.

"Hello Sam."

Sam blushed even harder and almost tripped, but Loah caught her and spun her around, making it look like it was all part of the dance. Some people around them clapped their hands.

"How did you know it was me?"

"One of your friends told me." Loah whispered back.

"Who? … Duncan?"

"I don't know his name."

"Duncan is the black guy standing over there." Sam nodded subtlety towards Duncan, who still stood at the edge of the dance floor, smiling towards them.

"No, actually, it was that guy." Loah nodded too, towards Zach, who was still dancing his weird jitterbug-like dance, but with another girl this time – she looked a bit uncomfortable. Sam snickered but was surprised Zach did that, it was really sweet of him.

The dance ended far too soon, and people around Sam and Loah started applauding as they stopped moving around. They still stood at the middle of the dance floor, though, simply looking into each other's eyes. Loah removed his hand from Sam's waist and she started pulling away, but he put his hand up and lifted her mask – not enough to reveal her face, but enough to at least expose her chin and lips.

Loah bent down and kissed her, quickly but gently, and then pulled back while putting back her mask. He stood up straight and smiled while she blushed like crazy and started fiddling with her own hands.

"Thank you very much for the dance." he said.

"Y-you're welcome." Sam managed to stutter. "And thank you too."

He smiled towards her, and then he turned around, walked away between the dancing couples and disappeared. Sam looked after him until she couldn't see him anymore before she twirled around and practically skipped over to Duncan, and Zach, who had joined him. They both smiled towards her, and Sam pulled up her mask a bit again and gave Zach a peck on the cheek.

"Thank you." she smiled towards him, and he looked surprised first but when he realized what she meant he smiled back. "So where's Roxanne?"

"She's dancing over there." Duncan said and pointed her out; she was dancing with and Obelisk Blue and looked like she was having a good time. "Why?"

Sam shrugged but the minute the song ended she waved Roxanne over. She came, still laughing and her face a bit flustered, and she looked at Sam with raised eyebrows as if to say 'What?'

"Hey, Roxanne… it's me." Roxanne's eyebrows went up even more than before but she didn't say anything. "Sam. Sam Marshall."

Roxanne drew in a sharp breath but then she smiled and leaned closer.

"Yeah, I figured. I always knew there was something off with you but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. I thought you were gay too, and then I suddenly recognized you when you were dancing with that Obelisk guy. Jackson, right?"

"Yes, Loah Jackson. I can't believe you knew!" Sam said, but she smiled too. Both Zach and Duncan stood in the background, staring, mouths open, not able to say one thing at this unexpected turn.

"I just thought you'd tell me sooner or later and that you probably have your reasons why you're dressing up as a guy, amirite?"

"Yeah, I do. But I'd rather not think about that right now."

"That's cool." Roxanne said and pulled Sam close for a short hug.

They all looked up into the dark sky as fireworks suddenly went off, filling the starry expanse with bright red, yellow and blue. Cheers and laughter was heard all over Academy Island on this one completely carefree night.

* * *

**A/N:** Long chapter is really looooong. Sorry 'bout that. But it'll probably be a while before the next chapter, so you know.

And guys? Give me some good news. Anything, I really need it. Did a stranger smile towards you? Seen a good movie? Had a nice Thanks-Giving? Anything, please ^^


	20. Obligatory girl power episode

**A/N:** Weee, a DA chapter! :D It was seriously three month since I updated this story, I feel so bad. And this isn't even part of the ending! xD

Well, reason I wrote this (wrote all of this _today _I might add, since I was home, sick *cough cough*) was because I wanted to give Roxanne more screen-time. Because I really like her, and I think you do too. And now there's only two chapters left, promise x'D

* * *

Sam had always had a soft spot when it came to tears. Both in the sense that she herself easily started crying – even though she hated that part of her personality – and that she simply couldn't ignore someone else who was crying. And now someone was indeed crying.

She had been on her way back to the dorm from the library, long after school ended, but she had stayed to be able to study for the upcoming Graduation Duels. The library had been quiet for once, much to her relief, and she had been able to read up on the continuous Spell Cards. She still didn't know who she was facing in the duel, and it was freaking her out. It had to be either a Ra or Obelisk – and she dreaded to meet either one. Duncan and Zach assured her that if she was able to defeat Kurou, she could do anything, but she wasn't so sure.

Lost in her thoughts, Sam had wandered aimlessly around the school for a while before she went back to the dorm, but as she passed by a closed door she definitely heard someone crying inside, and it sounded like a girl. She stopped and bit her lip, unsure what to do. She shouldn't interfere, maybe the person wanted to be alone… But then again…

"Are you alright?" Sam wondered softly through the door.

The crying stopped with a gasp and Sam realized she probably should've knocked first.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to pry… I just wanted to check if you were alright."

"Sam?" an unsure voice came floating through the door. Sam blinked but reached out and pushed down the handle, only to find that the door was in fact open. It swung open and revealed what appeared to be a small storage room, with shelves full of broken Duel Disks, old books and torn cards. And on the floor, hugging her own knees, Roxanne sat. Her nose was red and her cheeks flustered; her eyes watery.

"Roxi, what happened?" Sam practically gasped and knelt down next to her, after she closed the door behind her again. It was dark in the small room and the only light seemed to come from a vent high up on the wall, but Sam could still make out Roxanne's features. She smiled weakly.

"Oh nothing, I'm just being silly."

"Come on, Roxi, you know you can tell me everything. I mean I told you everything, right?"

That was true, and ever since Roxanne found out Sam was a girl, both their and Duncan and Zach's relationship had become so much stronger. None of them had secrets now, and it was better that way.

Roxanne's lower lip trembled. The she exploded in a cascade of words.

"Well, you know how I said I broke up with my boyfriend because he was really in love with Alexis Rhodes? Yeah well, that wasn't true. _He_ broke up with _me_, but for the same reason. He so doesn't have a chance with her, she is way out of his league and she's already in love with someone else! And my friends have all gone over to Alexis' side, can you believe that? They're actually friends with her now, they just deserted me at the Ra dorm and they're always hanging out at the Obelisk girls' dorm! Ever since I started hanging out with you guys (and I'm not saying I don't like you guys a hella lot, which I do) people have just been abandoning me to the left and right! I don't have a boyfriend anymore and I don't have any friends and I'm just all alone!"

She sobbed loudly and then hid her face in her hands, crying softly.

Sam couldn't do anything but stare for a while. It was so odd seeing Roxanne like this, all vulnerable and sad and… human? Roxanne had always been so strong and independent; she didn't care about what people thought, she laughed trash-talk away and then said something back ten times worse and shrugged with a smile when people called her names. She got good grades without studying because she was naturally smart and a quick learner, not because she cheated and slept with some of the younger teachers, like some people said she did. She usually aced things the first time and when she didn't, she immediately stood back up and tried again.

Sam laid her arm around Roxanne's shoulder and pulled her closer, simply holding her until the crying subsided.

"Anyways," Roxanne said and pulled away, drying her tears, "sorry for breaking down like that. All better now."

"Whaa– ?" Sam said as Roxanne stood up, correcting her clothes slightly.

"Yeah? There's no point in staying sad like that, it's not good for you." She held out a hand and pulled Sam up. "Besides, isn't it time to eat soon? Hey, do you mind if I eat at your dorm?"

Sam blinked several times in confusion and then followed Roxanne out of the storage room. The female Ra immediately started walking down the deserted hallway with quick steps and Sam had to practically jog to be able to keep up.

"What, that's it?" she panted. "You cry for a while and then everything's fine?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Roxanne said and slowed down so Sam could catch her breath.

"Has it always been like this?"

"… Yeah, I think so. For as long as I can remember anyway." She shrugged slightly. "I guess I never saw the point in being sad."

"Wow. That's a very… healthy way of looking at things." Sam was a bit surprised but it did explain a few things. Like why she'd never seen Roxanne cry; if she only did it once in a very long while, when she was by herself… well, it wasn't too weird.

"Heh, thanks". Roxanne said with a crooked smile. "It would be kinda nice to get back on them somehow, though. Get revenge, you know?"

Sam argued quietly with herself for a few moments before saying:

"Well, why don't we?"

This actually caused Roxanne to stop and stare at Sam with raised eyebrows. Sam stopped as well, her eyebrows raised too. If anyone had gone by them standing in the hallway and looking surprised at each other like that, they probably would've laughed. But then Roxi started laughing instead.

"I can't believe you!" she said and started walking again.

"What?" Sam said with a short laugh and followed.

"You're always such a goodie-goodie, and now you're suggesting we do something strictly against campus regulations? Really, Sam…"

"I think you need it." Sam said truthfully. "Even if you cry sometimes and it feels better afterwards I think you need more than that. D'you wanna duel them or something?"

"No. Definitely not." Sam looked confused until Roxanne explained. "It's kind of stupid… but the main reason I go to DA is because all my friends are here. Or well, 'ex-friends' I supposed I have to call them now. And when my ex-boyfriend started too… I didn't have much of a choice. I really value my friends, and I want to be close to them."

"Yeah, I can understand that…" Sam was a bit shocked Roxanne cared _that_ much about her friends and that she obviously put them higher than her own education. With that in mind, it wasn't hard feeling sorry for her when all her friends abandoned her like that. "But… what about you? What did you want to do before you came here, which school did you want to go to?"

"I didn't know, that's the thing. So I just tagged along."

"I see."

They went quiet for a while and soon came out of the school building. The sun was slowly setting over the ocean and from the Slifer Red dorm they could hear the bell signaling it was dinner. No one else was around.

"… So do you really want to do it?" Roxanne finally asked as they went down the hill.

"Yes." Sam grinned. "But what?"

"Oh, I have a few ideas." She smiled wickedly until she noticed Sam was looking at her with a suspicious/scared look. "Ha! Okay, I went to a girls' school before I came here, and every year the newcomers needed to be put in their place by the seniors. So when I was a first-grader, they made us all go to class in nothing but our underwear. The teachers were furious, because they don't know about this tradition at all, but if we hadn't done it we would've been punished so hard by the seniors! Oh, those were the days."

"So what did you do when you were a senior?"

"Well…" Roxanne said with a sly smile.

* * *

"Roxi?"

Only seconds after Sam's whisper, Roxanne appeared on the other side of the gates to the Ra Yellow girls' campus. It was night, no moon and pitch black outside; if Sam hadn't heard Roxanne rustle through the bushes she probably wouldn't have seen her. Both of them were wearing black, tight-fitting clothes and black hats, just for the heck of it.

Roxanne opened the iron gates by entering a code on an almost completely hidden panel on a pillar nearby. Sam hurried through the gates before they closed again without a sound.

"Did you bring the stuff?"

"Sure did." Sam whispered back and held up two pairs of gloves and a big sack.

"Excellent." Roxanne grinned and took a pair of the gloves. "Now, stay close to me at all times and keep quiet. If we get caught, remember what we said."

"Leave through the exit by the hot springs and meet up by the docks?"

"'Atta girl."

They moved quickly over the large garden which was part of the Ra campus before they came to the actual house, which was huge in comparison to the Slifer Red dorm. The front doors were closed and locked, but Roxanne led Sam around the corner and showed her a smaller door which led into the kitchen. When they stepped in Sam couldn't help but look around in awe; the fridge and pantry were filled with delicious food and everything was clean and shiny and brand new. It was really different from the Slifer kitchen, where Banner single-handedly used to cook their meals every day. Now that he was missing, they had to make their own food.

"So this is where Zach snuck in when he took all those photos." Sam whispered after they made sure there wasn't anyone in there. "I can't be that mad at him, though; he's the reason we first met."

Roxanne smiled towards her through the darkness but signaled for her to stay quiet. Sam moved her hand over her mouth as if she zipped it close, before she followed Roxanne into the entry hall and up the stairs; to the long hallways where the girls' bedrooms were located. Roxi pointed towards the first door to the left, and they entered the room together.

Two girls slept in every room, and none of the doors were locked. There was no need for that, since nothing but girls slept in the house and the security was so tight. Until you got into the actual house, so to speak. Sam and Roxanne moved over to the girls' bureau and quietly pulled out the drawers in search for something. When they found what they were looking for, they picked it up and put it in the sack.

They kept doing so for almost an hour, moving quietly from room to room, with the occasional whispers between them:

"Oh God, look at these!"

"Nasty."

"So glad I'm wearing gloves right now."

And:

"Oh my damn, can you believe she wears these in school?"

"We should hang those somewhere where people will see them."

Once they had been to all the rooms in all the corridors, they went back outside and stopped to breathe for a while, just outside the door to the kitchen. Sam had the sack over her shoulder, only now it was filled to the brim. She pulled her hat and gloves off and put them in the sack too before offering Roxanne to do the same. Then they simply watched each other for a while.

"You know, Sam, I never thought you could be so devious."

"To be completely honest, I didn't think so either."

Roxanne giggled. "Well, are you going to be alright on your own?"

"Yeah sure. I'll dump the sack in the forest; you know that old well Banner told us about a long time ago? Ever since Chazz took all the cards there no one's been there. I figured it was the best place, unless you feel like dumping them in the ocean?"

"Nah, the well sounds better. Hey, maybe some student searching for cards will find these instead in a few years!"

"Haha, that would be so much fun. Imagine the look on his face." Sam corrected the sack on her shoulder to keep it from sliding down too much. "Well, I'll be going now."

"Okay, the combination to the gates is 4219." Roxanne said and started turning around. Sam did the same until Roxi suddenly spoke up again. "Oh and Sam? … Thanks."

Sam smiled towards Roxanne before embracing her.

"No problem."

And the following morning, a resounding scream was heard over Duel Academy as all the girls in the Ra Yellow dorm woke up without any underwear whatsoever to put on.


	21. The Graduation Duel pt 1

**A/N:** It's the beginning of the end...! *sob*

* * *

As the results showed up on the screen Sam couldn't do anything but stare. She couldn't believe it; it wasn't true, it wasn't real. She felt as if the ground opened up underneath her and she fell down, down, deep down in some dark pit. She swallowed hard and had to force herself to breathe; she felt a hand on her shoulder but didn't have the presence to react.

"Sam? Sam, listen to me. You're going to make it, okay? We're right here, we'll support you." That was Duncan, and it was his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, you'll totally make this! I know you can!" Zach.

"You will beat him, Sam, and if you don't, I'll beat him up!" Roxanne.

Sam managed to draw a shaky breath and find her way back to her own body. She blinked and Duncan's worried face swam back into focus, only inches away from her own. Behind him stood Zach and Roxanne, and behind them was the monitor in the great hall showing all the latest news and rankings.

"Sam?" Duncan wondered again.

"I-I'm fine, I just… I need time to think."

And with that, she tore herself away from Duncan's hand and twirled around, running away quickly. She ran through the corridors and hallways of Duel Academy, not really heading anywhere in particular, but she did manage to attract some attention when she shoved people out of the way, not caring if they were Ras or Obelisks. They shouted insults after her but she didn't hear them.

Eventually, she slowed down and looked around, and realized she was completely lost. She didn't recognize it at all, so she couldn't have been there before. However, she had to be on one of the highest floors, because when she looked out the windows all she could see was bright blue sky. Sam sighed and started looking around for a map, which you could find all over the school; they were there to aid the first-graders, but she really shouldn't need one right now, not after an entire year there.

There wasn't anyone else there either, otherwise she could've just asked. But the corridors up here were completely deserted, or at least that's what she thought until she heard a low voice somewhere close by. Curious, and longing to go back, Sam followed the voice until she reached a short flight of stairs, and when she went up them she found herself on the roof – blinking in the sudden sunlight.

A boy she would've recognized anywhere looked up as she approached, but she didn't see anyone he could've been talking to. However, she did see an odd shadow close to his shoulder, but she dismissed it as her imagination.

"So you found my secret hiding-place." Jaden said with a smile as she sat down next to him.

"It wasn't intentional." Sam said truthfully. "But it's nice up here. And you're here a lot?"

"Yup, whenever I need to think." He grinned and lay down with his hands behind his head. "I'm dueling Zane Truesdale in the Graduation Duel."

"Really? That's amazing! Do you think you can win, then?"

"I hope so, he's really strong. But it's going to be so cool just to be able to duel him again!" Jaden's grin got wider but then he suddenly seemed to realize something was off with Sam, who didn't smile back. "Who are you dueling?"

"… Loah Jackson." Sam said. Both of them went quiet, then Sam suddenly hid her face in her hands. "I don't think I can beat him." She mumbled and fought not to cry.

"If you don't _think_ you can beat him, of course you can't." Sam blinked and looked up at him. He looked surprisingly serious, and his brown eyes were focused on Sam. "You have to believe in yourself, your friends, and your deck. If you do, they will help you." Sam couldn't think of anything to say, but Jaden continued. "Do you have a card, which has always been closer to you than any other? A card you've always had in your deck and that has always been there when you needed it most?"

Sam nodded wordlessly, and reached for her deck. She pulled out Harpie's Brother, but without really looking at it; she was still completely focused on Jaden.

"Don't look at me, look at your card." He said with a chuckle.

Sam turned her eyes towards her favorite card and as she did, she wind seemed to pick up speed around them, ruffling their hair and making their clothes wrinkly. Harpie's Brother looked like he always had; standing there with his claws and wings ready for battle. But when Sam looked up from the card again, she gasped, because Harpie's Brother was standing there right in front of her, with a smile on his lips.

He didn't stay for long, and faded away after nothing but seconds, but he _had_ been there.

"Told you." Jaden said with another laugh, and this time Sam was sure she saw something floating in the air close to him.

* * *

Sam's stomach was twisted into a small ball of nervousness, but she didn't care. This was it. She would duel Loah Jackson, and she would definitely make it. She was going to pay back for their duel at the Entrance Exam – where he had cheated and let her win. But now she would show him that she could win on her own.

There were only a few people in the Duel Arena besides the duelists themselves; a teacher named Professor Rowe who would supervise the duel, a few of Loah's friends and all of Sam's, including Jaden and Syrus. Chumley had left the school nothing but a few days earlier, to work at Industrial Illusions as a card designer. There was a couple of other students in the arena as well, mostly Slifer Reds and a few Ras with nothing better to do.

Zach, Duncan and Roxanne cheered as Sam walked up the stairs to the arena, and on the opposite side, Loah did the same. His friends kept quiet though; they were probably sure Loah would win over this little Slifer Red reject. Loah and Sam went across the arena and met in the middle, to shuffle each other's decks.

"I'll win." Sam said as she shuffled Loah's deck, but without showing a single emotion. "And I'll prove to you that you didn't have to let me win at the Entrance Exams."

She could've sworn she saw a small smile play around the corners of Loah's mouth. "I hope you do." He said and gave her deck back. They went back and raised their Duel Disks, engaging it with a small sound.

"DUEL!" they both said at the same time.

"I'll go first!" Sam said and drew her cards. "I summon Birdface in defense mode!" A giant bird, armor-clad and with green and yellow feathers appeared on her field. "And I'll set one card face down. End turn."

"My turn, draw!" Loah eyed his cards for a moment before deciding what to do. "I summon Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 "Kuick"!"

Loah's monster appeared on the field. Sam's eyes narrowed slightly; she never really liked his monsters. They were doll-like, in wood with metal joints and details, and they were creepy; neither one of them had a real face.

"I attack Birdface!" Karakuri Ninja dashed over the field and attacked Birdface with its kunais. Birdface disappeared in a cloud of smoke, but Sam didn't take any damage since Birdface had been in DEF mode. "And I set one card face down to end my turn."

"Draw! I summon Eagle Eye, and then I tribute it to summon Dark Nephthys!" A dragon-like monster which seemed to consist mostly of shiny metal armor and enormous flames appeared in a burst of fire, screaming before settling on the field. "I attack Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 "Kuick" with my Dark Nephthys!"

Loah grunted as his Karakuri Ninja was destroyed with a blast and he took a full 700 points in damage. Roxanne and the others cheered louder.

"Alright! First blood, Sam!" Zach shouted and waved. Sam grinned, stuck out her tongue and made a peace-sign in his direction before going serious again and turning back to Loah.

"I activate the Continuous Spell card 'Card Trader'!" Sam said and Card Trader showed up next to her, even though she couldn't use its effect this turn.

"My turn." Loah said; his green eyes almost completely black now. "I activate the field card 'Karakuri Showdown Castle'!" A huge, Japanese-style castle with white walls and blue roof rose from the ground behind Loah. Lightning struck around him and a sinister air seemed to come from the castle itself. "Next I summon Karakuri Muso 818 "Hapia", and attack Dark Nephthys with it! Thanks to Karakuri Muso 818 "Hapia"'s effect, Dark Nephthys is changed to defense position when it is being attacked!"

Sam watched in horror as Dark Nephthys was forced into defense position only to be wiped out immediately after, but she still didn't get any damage.

"'Hapia' changes to DEF mode at the end of the Battle Phase thanks to its other effect. I set one card face down and end my turn."

"Draw!" Sam looked at her hand and growled. She really didn't have anything useful. "I activate Card Trader and shuffle one card from my hand to my deck before I draw a new one!" _Here we go_, she thought as she got a better card. "I summon Harpie Lady and then tribute it to summon Dark Simorgh!"

Sam's absolutely strongest monster appeared on her field; an enormous iron-gray bird with chains hanging from its wings and a steel halo around its head. When it screeched, it sounded like a thousand metallic voices singing together in disharmony. Loah looked a bit intimidated, but that was nothing compared to what his friends looked like.

"Yeah! Go, Sam!" Jaden yelled somewhere behind her, but she didn't pay any attention to him at the moment.

"I attack 'Hapia'!" Sam shouted and pointed towards Loah's monster, and Dark Simorgh set off towards it.

"I activate the spell 'Karakuri Klock'!" Loah yelled hurriedly and his face down card was revealed. "It destroys all face-up monsters my opponent controls!"

"Counter-trap, open!" Sam said with an insane laugh. "Trap Jammer!"

Loah's 'Karakuri Klock' was destroyed and Dark Simorgh's attack continued. It buried its claws into Karakuri Muso 818 "Hapia"'s chest and tore it apart in an explosion of wood and metal. Loah didn't get any damage, but Sam's grin got even wider as her friends' praise reached her ears.

"My turn, draw! I activate Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two cards!" Loah drew again and then summoned another monster, Karakuri Soldier 236 "Nisamu", which looked similar to his others except this one was carrying a long bamboo staff. "And I activate Limiter Removal, giving my "Nisamu" a total of 2800 attack points!"

Sam gasped. That was 100 point more than her strongest monster; than her Dark Simorgh.

"Battle!" Loah continued ruthlessly.

Dark Simorgh disappeared with a metallic scream which made Sam cringe, even though she was used to the sound. Her Life Points dropped down to 3900, and Loah ended his turn by setting another face down card. Thanks to Limiter Removal's effect, "Nisamu" was destroyed at the end of his turn, but he didn't seem to care.

"My turn! I activated Card Trader's ability!" Sam groaned as she drew a new card; this one really wasn't much better. "I summon An Owl of Luck in defense mode and end my turn with two face downs!"

"I summon Yellow Gadget, and then tribute it to summon Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera!" Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera was a huge, three-headed beast with an extra head at the tip of its tail. Its entire body was clad in green armor. "Since I tributed Yellow Gadget to summon Gadjiltron Chimera, it gains the effect of dealing my opponent 700 points of damage whenever I destroy one of your monsters! I attack!"

An Owl of Luck didn't stand a chance against Gadjiltron Chimera, and Sam's Life Points dropped down to 3200 as Gadjiltron Chimera's effect hit her. She gave up a scream but then pulled herself together, glaring at Loah with dark eyes. He stared back; his eyes equally dark. Sam suddenly realized didn't like seeing them like that; she liked seeing his eyes green sparkling with laughter and hidden mischief. When had he changed?

When had she changed?

* * *

**A/N:** I am never ever ever ever ever heeeehever writing a duel again. Or well, I mean, I have the second half of this one left, but other than that...

**Tune in next time for the final chapter! DUN DUN DUNNNNN...!**


	22. The Graduation Duel pt 2

**A/N:** This is it, guys.  
You could easily fit this in here; http : / lonleysamurai . deviantart . com / art / Sam - GX - Interlude - 195655147

* * *

Everything can change in one turn.

Sam knew this to be true. Every man or woman who had ever dueled against someone else knew this; it was a basic knowledge to duelists everywhere, one of the very foundations of dueling. Everything could change in one turn.

Everything _will_ change in one turn.

"My turn, draw!"

Sam drew. And she smiled.

Loah had one monster on his field; only one, but it was strong. He had Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera, and the field card Karakuri Showdown Castle towering behind him. Sam didn't have anything on her field; her Life Points was at 3200; Loah's was at 3300.

"I activate the field card Mountain!" Sam declared and suddenly, Karakuri Showdown Castle began to crumble; its walls falling apart and the roof caving in. Instead, enormous mountains grew up around the arena, and a strong wind blew through the room. Sam closed her eyes for a brief moment and enjoyed feeling the wind tugging at her and threatening to knock her over.

"When Karakuri Showdown Castle is destroyed I can special summon a level 4 or higher 'Karakuri' monster from my Graveyard!" Loah shouted and Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 "Kuick" appeared on the field in attack mode, but Sam didn't let it stay there for long.

"I summon Harpie's Brother in attack mode!" Harpie's Brother came flying over the mountains and landed close to Sam, the feathers of his wings gently brushing against her cheek. "Hey…" she smiled towards him, and he smiled back. "Attack Karakuri Ninja!"

He flew across the field with a grin and tore Karakuri Ninja to shreds with his long claws before returning to Sam. Loah's Life Points dropped down to 3200, so they were equal now.

"Come on, Sam! You can take him!" Roxanne yelled from somewhere behind Sam.

"Draw!" Loah said as his turn began. "I summon Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 "Inashichi", and then I activate the spell card Karakuri Gold Dust which allows me to switch "Inashichi" to defense mode and transfer its attack points to one of my other monsters! I transfer the points to Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera, which now has 2800 attack points. Battle!"

Sam watched in dread as Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera attacked her beloved Harpie's Brother, who disappeared with a bang and a sad scream. Sam turned to Loah with her eyebrows forming an angry 'V' and her teeth gritted. She didn't even notice that her Life Points were reduced to 2200.

"You bastard…" she growled.

"I'm sorry, but this is what it's like in the dueling world. I set a card to end my turn, and "Inashichi"'s and Gadjiltron Chimera's attack and defense points return to normal."

"My turn, draw! I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards! I summon Harpie Queen, and thanks to Mountain's effect, she gains 200 attack and defense points. I attack "Inashichi"!"

"Not so fast! Trap card, open; Dimensional Prison!" Loah shouted and Harpie Queen suddenly disappeared without a trace. "She's removed from the game, so you can't even special summon her from your Graveyard." He explained, but looked a little too smug when he said it.

"I activate Cemetery Bomb!" Sam yelled back. "It deals you 100 points of damage for each monster in you Graveyard, which would be three!"

Loah grimaced as his Life Points dropped to 2900, but he soon bounced back and drew a card.

"I summon Karakuri Barrel mdl 96 "Shinkuro" and attack you directly!" Sam could feel the monster's wooden claws on her body as it attacked and the pain felt almost real – her Life was now at 1800, more than 1000 points below Loah. She panted heavily but didn't get any chance to recover, because Loah direct attacked her again, with Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera this time.

"I activate Negate Attack!" Sam gasped just in time; Gadjiltron Chimera's attack was negated, and Loah's battle phase ended. He gave up an annoyed little 'hmph', and Sam glared at him.

"Draw!" Sam said and cringed at her hand. There wasn't much left she could do now. It would end soon, she knew it, and there wasn't really anything she could do about it. Everything could change in one turn; it just didn't always happen. "I summon Harpie Girl in defense mode and end my turn with a face down."

All she could do was stall.

"My turn. I summon Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 "Saizan" in attack mode." This caused Sam to cringe again; her face down had been Trap Hole, which destroyed an opponent's monster when it was being summoned, but only if the monster had 1000 attack points or over. "Saizan" only had 600. "I use "Saizan" to attack Harpie Girl!" Harpie girl was wiped out too, and even though Sam didn't take any damage, she was now completely open for attacks. "And now I attack you directly with my Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera!"

Sam closed her eyes with a weak smile. She could feel a hand on her shoulder and didn't even have to look to know who it was. _Harpie's Brother_.

Her Life Points dropped to 0.

She lost.

The arena around them exploded in a wave of sound; the seats around the duel arena had been filling up during their duel without them noticing – now it was almost full on the benches. There were Slifer Reds, Ra Yellows, Obelisk Blues, and several teachers too. They all cheered, not because Sam had lost and Loah won, but because it had been an amazing duel.

Sam dropped down on her knees, staring at the floor in front of her. Tears were burning behind her eyelids, but she wouldn't cry. She wouldn't allow herself to cry. The mountains around them disappeared, and so did Loah's monsters. He slowly walked up to her.

As the hand faded from Sam's shoulder, a real one came into sight in front of her. She looked up and saw Loah standing there, smiling. She allowed him to pull her up, but neither of them let go again. They turned to the cheering audience and waved towards them, smiling brightly. A sudden clapping close to them made them turn their heads however.

Chancellor Sheppard came walking up the stairs to the duel arena, closely followed by Professor Rowe. Both of them were applauding as well.

"Congratulations, Jackson. That was an outstanding duel." Chancellor Sheppard said and shook Loah's hand before turning to Sam. "And Sam, I am amazed over how long you managed to put up against a three-year-old Obelisk Blue! That kind of talent is hard to find even here at this academy."

"Thank you very much." Sam said and blushed slightly.

"You did very well, both of you."

Sam and Loah nodded briefly towards the Chancellor before turning away again, because all of Sam's friends came running up to them. Roxanne practically picked Sam up and twirled around with her while Duncan shook Loah's hand.

"You were amazing, Sam!" Zach said with a wide grin.

"Even though you didn't win you totally kicked his ass!" Roxanne said and almost crushed Sam's ribs before putting her down on the floor again. Sam held her head, trying to make the world stop spinning, but then Duncan grabbed her hand.

"I'm so proud over you, Sam." He smiled.

"Thanks Duncan." She gave him a weak smile back. "I really couldn't have made it without you guys. I- … I love you guys."

"We love you too." Duncan said, and judging by Roxanne and Zach's smiles, they agreed. They all embraced in a group hug.

"Excuse me, Sam?" Chancellor Sheppard suddenly said. He was still standing there close to them, but over the past few minutes he had been discussing something with Professor Rowe, going through a few papers and signing some others. Now he was holding what appeared to be a diploma. "Professor Rowe and I have decided that thanks to this duel and your outstanding work over the year, both your written and practical exams, as of the school start next semester, you will be moving up to Ra Yellow."

Sam's eyes widened and her jaw fell open. Then her friends suddenly attacked her in a crushing group hug; they shouted, laughed, screamed and patted her on her back and shook her and danced around with her. Sam had the same incredulous smile over the first few moments but then seemed to realize that it was real; she wasn't dreaming. She let out a loud shout and started laughing, following her friends in their weird little dance over the duel arena.

The people in the audience seemed to get what was going on and the cheers increased a tenfold; they stood up and waved and yelled and whistled.

When Sam, Duncan, Zach and Roxanne's wild dance finally came to a stop they were all out of breath and panting, but they were still laughing. Roxanne tried to use Zach for support – she was laughing so hard she could barely stand up – but Zach was in a similar state and both of them ended up on the floor. Sam had to dry a couple of tears away from her eyes, but it was okay; they were happy tears. Loah came up to them as Duncan tried to pull Zach up, but fell down on him instead.

Loah took Sam's hand to get her attention, and she fought to stop laughing as she turned to him.

"You were a very worthy opponent, I'm glad you could be my opponent for my Graduation Duel." He smiled towards her, and she smiled back. "And you're moving up to Ra Yellow! I'm so proud of you." Sam blushed, but before she could say anything Loah tugged slightly at her hand, making her take a step forward. "And since you're moving up, I didn't think you'd mind this…"

He reached up and cupped Sam's cheek, turning her head up slightly before he bent down and gently kissed her. Sam's eyes fell shut and she grasped onto Loah's uniform before throwing her arms around his neck, and his arms wound their way around her waist.

The audience went dead quiet.

Then Duncan suddenly whopped, Zach started whistling and Roxanne laughed like the mad-man she was. And all the people in the benches started applauding and whistling and laughing too, and even the Chancellor chuckled, and it felt as if the world exploded around Sam and Loah, but she didn't care.

She was finally where she had wanted to be all this time, during the whole year.

She was home.

* * *

**A/N:** It's done. According to Word, it's **57 pages**, **36015 words**, and I've been working on it for 4518 minutes, which is roughly **three days**. (Though I wouldn't believe that entirely, sometimes I have the document open in the background for hours without realizing it xD)

I'm so happy to see that there are people who wants a sequel! But I have to be completely honest and say that I probably won't write one, I don't have neither the time nor motivation. Writing more OC stories would be nice though, but probably nothing _this _long.

Fun facts you probably didn't know: I started watching YGO:TAS April 1st 2010, YGO!GX April 10th, bought my first cards April 23rd, started playing YGO!Online May 8th, started writing this fic (in Swedish though) May 24th, started re-writing it in English July 9th, joined fanfictiondotnet July 24th, started watching 5Ds July 26th... and finished this fic now, February 23rd 2011.  
From zero to fandom in less than a year, baby!

**Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this! You'll stay forever in my heart! ^^**

**EDIT: **Just drew a pic of the gang, with Sam in her Ra Yellow uniform ^^ You can find it here: http : / lonelysamurai . bilddagboken . se /p/ show . html? id=485447518 (it's a Swedish site this time, though ;) )


End file.
